Which Way Hosea
Alright, now that we have the four directions which way do we go? As discussed prior, nobody back then had google maps. Paper maps were still being invented as were physical locations to go on those maps which meant that the people's understanding, as did the world around them, grew and changed. Back in the day sailors used to use tools such as a compass to find their way. They liked this because it was considered far more reliable than even the stars and could be used on rainy or even cloudy days. But making a compass required the following things.
Needle
Magnet
Water bottle cap
Bowl full of water
When you pick out your needle, a sewing one's fine. You don't need to fill the bowl with a lot of water either, just a little is fine. You're going to rub the pointy end of the needle all over the magnet say fifty times. By that time, it's considered magnetized. Then, you're going to want to stick the pointy end of the needle through the plastic bottle cap. Make sure the cap looks like this before you do.
Needle
Pointy Needle Put down
It like this with the flat side
Waterwaterwaterwaterwaterwaterwaterwaterwaterwater
Sorry to draw you a word picture, but sometimes it's far easier than just telling you. That's because directions can inherently be misunderstood. If I say go left at the tree, you might not know which way is left nor where is the tree. In fact, you might have several trees to choose from and not know what I mean at all. I could always take time to show you which is known as a guide. It sure is a lot easier than trying to tell you something that can be misunderstood. More than that there is always the issue of getting lost. That is why so many ships that went to sea in days gone by were never seen or heard from again because of the storms and also the lack of direction. The issue with the guide though is if the guide's wrong then everyone gets lost. That's why Jesus said that if the blind lead the blind they both will fall into the ditch.
Now, if you've done the compass correctly, the needle should always point north no matter which way it's turned. But with that are more difficulties to be had. Because the magnet was used, the needle will only point out magnetic north. This can be due to the effects of mass or weight on the earth. Say if all the land is bunched into one place, that should be heavier right? The only problem with that is the weight of the water balances it all out. Therefore, it's hard to know exactly which way is north. Magnetic north interacts with the weight of the land and also the mass of the water. It goes off the theory that everything in this world either attracts or repels on some molecular level, which is the building blocks from which things are made. Therefore, in theory the more stuff you have, the more it repels or pushes away. Then again, some stuff like water sticks together and it's hard to separate the little, tiny pieces of water out.
You can do this very easily with dirt or earth, but you cannot with water. The only time this works is when there's other stuff added in like say salt. Due to this fact, sea water desalination plants work very well. They can desalt the water and pull the other stuff out. But they cannot split the water apart except with a lot of force. That's why the Scriptural story of Moses parting the Red Sea had to be due to God's power. There's nothing else it can be. Then again, the existence of magnetic north implies there's also a true north involved. You might not know where this is, and I might not be able to tell you. But the magnetic north and true north don't always agree.