Did the Sages Know the Earth is Round?

The Aish Rabbi Replies

Thank you for raising this important issue. In terms of what the Sages believed in, there are actually conflicting sources in Jewish literature. The earliest source on the matter is probably the verse in Job (26:7), which writes that God “suspends the earth upon nothingness.” Thus, the Torah clearly asserts that the world is not being “held up” by pillars – nor is it floating on water or in any of the other bizarre configurations ancient man envisioned. The world is suspended in space. There is a Talmudic passage (Hagigah 12b) which implies otherwise – that the land stands on pillars, which stand on water, which rests on mountains, etc. It is clear though that that Gemara is Aggadic and intended metaphorically. (See the Talmud’s conclusion that the world rests on a single pillar whose name is “tzaddik” – righteous one – meaning that the righteous are the foundation of the world.) The Talmud is thus clearly presenting a Kabbalistic discussion of the world’s purpose rather than its astronomic positioning.

In terms of the shape of the earth, there are actually conflicting sources in the literature. There are a few sources which clearly imply the Sages knew the world is spherical – see Talmud Avodah Zarah 41a, Jerusalem Talmud Avodah Zarah 3:1, and Bamidbar Rabbah 13:17. See also Zohar Vayikra 10a that the world is like a ball and when it’s light on one side it’s dark on the other. (It should be noted that the Greeks had already reached the same conclusion before the Talmud’s time. Also, verses which refer to “the four corners of the land” (e.g., Isaiah 11:12, Ezekiel 7:2) can easily be understood poetically – not unlike how today we’ll refer to the sun rising or setting while it’s actually the earth that is turning.)

There are, however, a number of sources which imply the Sages believed the world was flat, probably disk-shaped. One important source is Talmud Pesachim 94b. There the Talmud cites a debate between the sages of Israel and the scholars of the nations regarding what happens to the sun at the end of the day. The Jewish sages claimed that at night the sun goes above the firmament (one of the layers of heaven, which is opaque), while the non-Jews claimed it goes beneath the earth. Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi, the editor of the Mishna, concluded that the non-Jewish scholars are probably right because bodies of water feel warmer at night than during the day – presumably because they are heated by the sun beneath the earth.

There are several significant takeaways from the above discussion. It is true that the Talmud quotes the Sages as having a scientifically incorrect picture of basic astronomy. The earth would seem to be flat, with the sun moving from one end to the other, rising above the firmament, and then going back to the other side to rise again the next morning. By contrast, the non-Jewish, probably Greek, view has the sun going beneath a (possibly spherical) earth at night, continuing to circle the earth until it rises the next day.

Most important, however, is that the Talmud there concludes that they are probably wrong and the Greeks rights. In other words, the opinion of the Talmud in this topic was not a matter of religious doctrine. There was no tradition from Sinai regarding the shape of the earth – or many other matters of science for that matter. The Sages were simply following what was plausible to them at the time – but they were more than ready to change their minds if the evidence convinced them otherwise. (See R’ Avraham son of Maimonides’ introduction to the Aggadita of the Talmud which discusses this at length. In truth there are many who understand passages like the above one allegorically – hinting to esoteric ideas rather than scientific ones, which were much less a concern of the Sages.)

Thus, although there are conflicting sources regarding what the sages of the Talmud believed regarding the shape of the earth, today such issues are basically no more than a historical curiosity. Although the Jewish people received the Torah from God at Sinai and matters of tradition we accept with perfect faith, scientific matters recorded in the Talmud may well not be traditions from Sinai but no more than a reflection of the contemporary beliefs of the Talmud’s time. Alternatively, the Sages at times employed metaphor, couching their words in the beliefs of their times, to teach much deeper and more profound messages.