It might have been the thinking of men in the church who taught that the earth was flat but it was not the word of God.
Isa 40:22 Appox.754 BC.
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in
Just to be clear -- you are suggesting that Isiah's words of so many year ago ('BC' ... in this case before Copernicus) "circle of the Earth" imply the earth is an orb, right?