Hi Tim. Today, we use that expression to describe the full expanse of the globe, or if people are coming for a conference from the 'four corners of the Earth', we easily understand its meaning: that almost all countries are sending out people/delegates for that meeting.
In the Bible (Old Testament) we see this expression often ( Ezekiel 7:2; Isaiah 11:12) giving us the Hebrew word, kanaph, which in this usage, means 'extremities'. In the New Testament ( Revelation 7:1) the Greek word is 'gonia' & here it means 'angle, corner, division'. So the 'angels standing on the four corners of the Earth' seem to represent the division of the earth into four, and each angel covering the quadrant assigned to him, holding back the winds. Today, we would use the four points of the compass to describe the expanse of the Earth ( Luke 13:29), though the meaning in those days was that 'people would come from where the sun rises, from where it sets, from where the North wind comes, & from the direction of the South wind'. All these speak of the 'four corners of the Earth', never implying that the Earth has actual corners, which could never be identified anyway, no matter how hard man searched for them.
In the Bible (Old Testament) we see this expression often ( Ezekiel 7:2; Isaiah 11:12) giving us the Hebrew word, kanaph, which in this usage, means 'extremities'. In the New Testament ( Revelation 7:1) the Greek word is 'gonia' & here it means 'angle, corner, division'. So the 'angels standing on the four corners of the Earth' seem to represent the division of the earth into four, and each angel covering the quadrant assigned to him, holding back the winds. Today, we would use the four points of the compass to describe the expanse of the Earth ( Luke 13:29), though the meaning in those days was that 'people would come from where the sun rises, from where it sets, from where the North wind comes, & from the direction of the South wind'. All these speak of the 'four corners of the Earth', never implying that the Earth has actual corners, which could never be identified anyway, no matter how hard man searched for them.
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