Commodore Maury of The United States Navy

Psalm 8:3-8

“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

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The Bible is a treasure storehouse of many things.  First and foremost, it reveals things about our wonderful Lord Jesus.  The Holy Spirit uses stories, types, words, secrets in the Hebrew language, even numbers to unveil His glory and beauty and to explain spiritual truths to us.  Though not it’s primary function, it is also the most accurate books of history and science!

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Scientific Principles.

But among the many things this amazing book unveils are scientific principles and details about our universe.  Some of them have been discovered by scientists, but many remain a mystery to us.  One of those burning questions is “What holds the atom together?”  But we know, don’t we Church?  The Bible says that “Jesus holds all things together by the word of His power.”  AMEN!  

The subject of this article, Commodore Maury, found something quite unexpected in its pages that has impacted the entire world from that day to this.

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Commodore Maury.

I’d like you to meet the man who used this book to discover something amazing:  Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury of the United States Navy.  

Born on January 14, 1806, he was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator.  He died February 1,1873.    

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(Lieut. Matthew Fontaine Maury U.S. Navy)

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He is known as the father of modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology.  He published the first extensive and comprehensive book on oceanography in 1855.  Maury made many important new contributions to charting winds and ocean currents, including ocean lanes for passing ships at sea.  He was nicknamed the “Pathfinder of the Seas.”  How did he do it?  Read on!

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The Bible Reveals It’s Secret.

In 1825 at age 19, Matthew joined the United States Navy as a midshipman on board the frigate USS Brandywine. Almost immediately he began to study the seas.  Later in life, when the Commodore was very sick, he asked one of his daughters to get the Bible and read it to him.  She randomly chose Psalm 8.  

You can see that the eighth verse of this Psalm speaks of  “whatsoever walketh through the paths of the sea,”.   When Matthew heard this part, he kept repeating the words, “The paths of the sea, the paths of the sea.”  Then he said, “If God’s word mentions ‘the paths of the sea,’ they are there, and if I ever get out of this bed I will find them.”

(Commander Maury’s map of ocean currents 1836)

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Well, he did recover and did discover that there are, indeed, “Paths in the seas!”…..thousands of years after their existence was recorded in scripture!   Generations of sailors since his day have benefited from his work.  

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That’s our wonderful Bible!  It even reveals secrets about this world we live in if we will but listen carefully and pay close attention to God’s word, like Commodore Maury of the United States Navy.