"The Heavens Declare the Glory of God..."

4th century B.C. – GEOCENTRISM

The Earth is the centre of the universe, and all other heavenly bodies are attached to rotating spheres surrounding the earth, all concentric with it (Aristotle)

16th century A.D. – HELIOCENTRISM

The centre of the universe is near the Sun, the Sun is stationary, and the Earth is one of several planets revolving around the Sun in a determined order (Copernicus)

TODAY

“Our solar system is located in the Milky Way, a barred spiral galaxy with two major arms, and two minor arms. Our Sun is in a small, partial arm of the Milky Way called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms. Our solar system orbits the center of the galaxy at about 515,000 mph (828,000 kph). It takes about 230 million years to complete one orbit around the galactic center.” (science.NASA.gov)

~1,000 B.C. – KING DAVID

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. (Psalm 19:1-6)

How did David know that the Sun was not stationary, but rather moved in an orbit (a circuit)? This would not become the prevailing scientific model until almost 3,000 years in David’s future. Did he have a spaceship to go into space to make observations? Did he have telescopes powerful enough to peer into the centre of our Milky Way galaxy? Did he live long enough to see the Sun make one complete orbit?

Or rather, did an all-knowing, all-powerful God tell David what to write about His Creation? (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21)

“The heavens declare the glory of God…”