The Bible was written to convey religious lessons and theological truths, not as a science or history textbook.
Some biblical scholars point out that the story of the flood was written from the perspective that the "whole earth" likely meant the world known to the authors, not the entire globe.
Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to matters of faith and doctrine, not to matters of history and science, nor does the Bible intend to explain science. On the other hand, acknowledging the limits of science is a core principle of science itself, and that has been expressed by many renowned scientists with humility. There have been countless revisions to scientific theory over the centuries.
Even so, there are some passages in the Bible alluding to scientific concepts, which science did not confirm until much later. Isaiah 40:22 says, "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". That scripture, expressing the earth as a round sphere, was written around 740-700 B.C.
The word "scientist" was not coined until centuries later, but Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras did not concede that the Earth was round until 570–500 B.C., and Aristotle himself did not provide the first solid evidence until another 2 centuries later, around 330 B.C. Then it was yet another hundred years (240 B.C.) before Eratosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference. [Science finally "caught up."]
