Bible Discussion Thread

Before the mountaines were broughtforth, or euer thou hadst formed the earth and the world

Psalms 90:2

Someone explain because I thought the earth was the world?

And as the bible says, let precept be upon precept and line upon line, please don't give me your opinion on this verse, give me scripture upon scripture and if it doesn't line up with that verse to the point where I can understand it I need someone else to try to explain!

No opinions from me, just appealing to the Hebrew. In this passage, 'Earth' is 'eh'-rets', meaning the Earth, land in its virgin state, as in Genesis 1:1; 1:28.

And 'World' in Hebrew, is 'tay-bale' ', meaning the world viewed as being inhabited, as in Job 18:18; Psalm 9:8.

Both the above references, and many more, show the exact Hebrew words that depict the intended meaning of the writer.

Respectfully, and correct me if I'm wrong!

By those verses and mine does that or could that mean that Russia is a world different from another world like China that live on the Earth?

Now, if you're looking at specific nations, as opposed to just a land mass (eh'-rets) or the inhabited world (tay-bale'), then there appears another word for nations (goy), which would include specific nations as Russia or China. So, the Hebrew (tay-bale') would refer to the general habitation of all peoples & nations.

Since the Bible doesn't specifically refer to either Russia or China, though there are countries (e.g. Tubal, Meshech, Gog, Magog, etc.) that we can't be certain by using today's country names & divisions, the specific mentioning of Russia or China is not in the Bible.

So, I'm unsure whether this answers the intent of your question.

So now im back to square one because that is confusing.....so here is another way I can put it...there are worlds that live on the Earth! Correct? Like the sea creatures are a different world from land creatures! Thats why I gave the russia & China example! Because my pastor once told everyone that God only loves one world out of the many there are but when I asked him about this he deflected the question and somehow got me into talking about what am I doing for Christmas!

My understanding of the three (maybe more) uses of the words, Earth, World & Nations, are purely taken from the Hebrew & seen in the Scriptures. One would of course need a learned person in Hebrew to correctly impart the specifics to these meanings.

So as I understand it, we have the Earth in its uninhabited, maybe deformed state. Then we have the World, as now being inhabited or habitable. Then the word for Nations, specifying the nations which formed post Flood. What I could ascertain from a quick check on these words, is that their meanings were not always consistent; that's why I mentioned that it was really up to the writer to include a word that reflected his thoughts - & that word might, to us, seem inappropriate. But that's all we have to work with, given our limited understanding.

Yet all that may not help you much, so my further thoughts to your last comment: I wouldn't be able to classify the nations as being the 'other worlds': they're just separate nations existing on a habitable World that once was inhabitable or uninhabited. But a Hebrew student could well correct me on this.

I'm surprised that your Pastor deflected your question as it pertained directly to his comment. Not knowing his message or where he was going with it, it would be difficult to ascertain what he was referring to, saying "God loves only one World out of many". Maybe he was speaking about the special people (= World) of believers, but that too wouldn't make sense. Maybe, when he enquired about your plans for Christmas, you could stated to him that you wished to visit some of those 'other Worlds' he spoke about & that you needed more information to make your pressing plans for a great holiday, come to fruition.