No it doesn't. The author just made that up out of whole cloth.
I can't find a single instance in the Bible where "chuwg" is translated as "sphere" or "ball" or anything of the like.
Neither do any of the Hebrew lexicons give the sense of "sphere" to this word. For instance, Strongs says:
Definition
- circle, circuit, compass
- (BDB) vault (of the heavens)
Translated Words KJV (3) - circle, 1; circuit, 1; compass, 1; NAS (3) - circle, 2; vault, 1;
Furthermore, when I looked at the issue before (sorry, don't remember the verses) I never found sphericity implied by context. Instead the earth, as to its creation or formation, is described in ways that imply flatness. For instance God draws it with a compass on the surface of the waters. He stamps, or pounds, or spreads it out. Etc.
The Bible certainly might have conveyed sphericity in any number of ways. For instance, instead of saying that God spread out or pounded out the earth, it could have said that He gathered it together, or that He formed it in His hands, or that He sculpted it. It might have compared the earth to a fruit, or it's surface to the rind of a fruit. But it never does. None of the analogies or language convey sphericity.
Stultis, you should read the verse in context...and you’ll see after it says
“God sits above the circle of the earth” Isaiah then went on to say “And spreads the heavens out like a TENT to dwell in.” I’d say that does far more to confirm the spherical nature of the earth than the hebrew word.
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
~ Isaiah, Chapter 40
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
~ Isaiah, Chapter 40
In addition to spreading the skies as a TENT, it says “stretches out the heavens like a CANOPY”
That sounds pretty *SPHERICAL!* That verse seriously gives me chills. That entire passage does, along with Job 26:7
“He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.”
Pretty awesome if you ask me considering how other cultures and religious texts said our planet sits atop elephants and turtles—or on Atlas’ shoulders.