urneth about unto the
north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth
again according to his circuits."

Of the four quarters, the Hebrews reckoned the east as first. It was to
the east that they supposed themselves always looking. The chief word
for east, therefore, _kedem_, means "that which is before," "the front";
and the word next in use is, naturally, _mizrach_, the rising of the
sun. The west is, as naturally, _meb[=o] hasshemesh_, the going down of
the sun; but as the Mediterranean Sea lay to the westward of Palestine
"the sea" (_yam_) is frequently put instead of that point of the
compass. With the east in front, the south becomes the right, and the
north the left. The south also was _negeb_, the desert, since the desert
shut in Palestine to the south, as the sea to the west. In opposition to
_tsaphon_, the dark or hidden north, the south is _darom_, the bright
and sunny region.

The phrase "four corners of the earth" does not imply that the Hebrews
thought of the earth as square. Several expressions on the contrary show
that they thought of it as circular. The Lord "sitteth upon the circle
of the earth," and in another passage the same form is applied to the
ocean. "He set a compass (_margin_ circle) upon the face of the depth."
This circle is no doubt the circle of the visible horizon, within which
earth and sea are spread out apparently as a plain; above it "the vault
of heaven" (Job xxii. 14; R.V. _margin_) is arched. There does not
appear to be allusion, anywhere in Scripture, to the spherical form of
the earth.

The Hebrew knowledge of the extent of the terrestrial plain was of
course very limited, but it would seem that, like many other nations of
antiquity, they supposed that the ocean occupied the outer part of the
circle surrounding the land which was in the centre. This may be
inferred from Job's statement--

"He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters,
Unto the confines of light and darkness."

The boundary of the world is represented as being "described," or more
properly "circumscribed," drawn as a circle, upon the ocean. This ocean
is considered as essentially one, exactly as by actual exploration we
now know it to be;--"Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place;"--all the oceans and seas communicate.

Beneath the earth there are the waters. The Lord hath founded the world
"upon the seas, and established it upon the