Geological knowledge of "primitive society"; Isaiah 55:10: The Bible as history

[Stand_watie]

Another church inspired post topic, this one secular in nature - I came across this little gem in the church bulletin this a.m.

I found it interesting on two points

a) That the knowledge of rain being a cyclical process of evaporation was generally understood (I'm making the assumption that it was generally understood, because it is referred to as a given fact of nature without an explanation) in at least some middle cultures at least as early as 760 BC.

and as a more general derivative of this and many other historical tidbits of the Bible

b) Isn't the Bible a historical treasure (from a secular perspective) in being so widely disseminated and translated?

[Perd Hapley]

I think you may have left out the gem.  But, yes, the Bible does contradict the simplistic view that many have of primitive science. 

[Stand_watie]

I think you may have left out the gem.  But, yes, the Bible does contradict the simplistic view that many have of primitive science. 

Dern! What a maroon I am. I was distracted... sorry, here's the gem

(and I notice you have a quotation by a famous Christian author in your signature - I like to share this resource any time I get the vague impression that someone might be interested in looking up portions of the Bible online)

About a hundred different versions here including Arabic, Russian, Korean and Swahili, and an apparent official Hebrew version termed the "westminster Leningrad Codex (?? doesn't sound Hebrew to me, but I definitely recognize the characters as Hebrew??), searchable, and easily quotable with no concern about copywrite infringement.

 
http://www.biblegateway.com/


Isaiah 55:10
As the rain and the snow
       come down from heaven,
       and do not return to it
       without watering the earth
       and making it bud and flourish,
       so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater..