1st Kings 7:23: Is the circumference of this basin 30 cubits?
“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.” 1st Kings 7:23
If the diameter of this basin, which is the modern meaning of ‘molten sea’ was 10 cubits, then the circumference could not have been 30 cubits. This is because ‘pi’ is not three times the diameter, but it is rather 3.14 (to two decimal places), or 3.1415 (to four decimal places), which would give us a circumference of 31.415 cubits. Please do remember that pi is a number which has been calculated on computer to a million decimal places. And so both 3.14, and even 3.1414 are only close approximations of the true value of pi, which is 3.1415 followed by an infinite number of billions and billions of infinitely more decimal places.
Secondly, we must remember that the decimal system has only been in existence since the ninth century. Before the date, all parts of a whole were expressed as a fraction, and the traditional definition of pi, since the time of Pythagoras has been 3 1/7.th Using each of these formulas for calculation pi, let us now use them to calculate the circumference of this basin from a diameter of ten, to three decimal places;
The Traditional Calculation of Pi which is; Three and one seventh.
10 cubits x 3 1/7 = 31.428 cubits, which would be 31 ½ or 31 2/5th as fractions.
The standard modern ‘school text book’ calculation of Pi; 3.14.
10 cubits x 3.14 = 31.400 cubits
The modern university level mathematical calculation of Pi; 3.1415
10 cubits x 3.1415 = 31.415 cubits
Bearing all of this in mind, I would have to concur that it would be completely impossible for the circumference of this particular basin to be 30 cubits. A fair but rough approximation of the diameter, in accordance with the ancient tradition of using fractions and not decimal points in mathematics, would be either 31 ½ cubits or 31 2/5.th However, I believe that Mathematically the Bible is far more accurate than this ancient system for determining the value of pi. In fact I believe that the Bible is 15 times more accurate than the 3 1/7th calculation, and that to three decimal places, it in fact gives us the size of the circumference as accurately as that determined by the 3.1415 mathematical calculation.
To understand this we must realise that in the Hebrew language, that each Hebrew letter has a numerical value. Now ignoring grammatical appendages, the Hebrew word for “round about” 5696 lge ‘agol aw-gole is comprised of two letters (Hebrew does not have vowels), which have a value of 106 ge (100 and 6). However, the Hebrew word as it actually occurs in the Hebrew text is actually spelt incorrectly, and has an additional letter (l which has a value of five) added to it, making a total numerical value of 111 (100 + 6 + 5 = 111).
The scribes who copied the Hebrew scrolls, called this a “remiz,” as they felt that this strangely spelt word had a hidden meaning, which they at the time did not understand. So rather than alter this word, they simply wrote the correct spelling for the word in the margin of the scroll (which had a numerical value of 106), and left the miss-spelt word unaltered in the text, which had a numerical value of 111.
The interesting thing is that 30 cubits, multiplied by 111 and then divided by 106, gives us:
30 x 111 = 3330
3330 ÷ 106 = 31.415 cubits to three decimal places.
Which incredibly is exactly the same result as that produced by the multiplication of 30 by 3.1415 university level value of pi, which is used in all centres of higher learning today. What a great testimony this is to the truthfulness of scripture.
Linear Mode
