I suspect this may be the central reference:
"Also he made the cast metal sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits and its circumference thirty cubits. " --2 Chronicles 4:2
This passage along with another one (in 1 Kings 7:23) has been source of some amusing historical controversy since it suggests an impossible circule. A circle with a diameter of 10 cubits would actually be 31.42 cubits around--more than 30. This is actually a difference of about 2 feet, but I suspect this diference is the "sacred inch[es]".
Only a truly devoted biblical literalist would claim that this passage actually implies that pi = 3. Any religious person with common sense (i.e. most, but not all) would admit that "God Bows to Math" here--in a sense admitting that math is more pure than God.
I suspect this may be the central reference: "Also he made the cast metal sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits and its circumference thirty cubits. " --2 Chronicles 4:2
This passage along with another one (in 1 Kings 7:23) has been source of some amusing historical controversy since it suggests an impossible circule. A circle with a diameter of 10 cubits would actually be 31.42 cubits around--more than 30. This is actually a difference of about 2 feet, but I suspect this diference is the "sacred inch[es]".
Only a truly devoted biblical literalist would claim that this passage actually implies that pi = 3. Any religious person with common sense (i.e. most, but not all) would admit that "God Bows to Math" here--in a sense admitting that math is more pure than God.