They're not copy errors, they're possibly translation errors…
To apply a finer point to it, yes you’re right.
But translations
are still copies, aren’t they? And even
more prone to errors sneaking in!
…or possibly just simply errors. I imagine at the time it was recorded that many people thought bats were birds.
I don’t believe the original manuscripts (OM’s) contained errors. From the way I’ve been taught in understanding & using the Scriptures, I have no reason to doubt the original writings were / are the thoughts of Jehovah God.
But your statement, about what people thought (and knew) back then, is more important than many people may realize in appreciating how the Bible words things. Poetry is a good example; it aids in remembrance.
Jehovah’s purpose for the Bible,
wasn’t to teach the Israelites science. It was written in a way that people back then could relate to, for the Israelites to better grasp His requirements for them.
But where it
does touch on scientific subjects, it’s been accurate.
For example, In Job, there are statements made that,
at that time, would have been,
not just hard to believe, but
thought impossible!
Job 26:7 is one such verse, where it states God is “
suspending the earth upon nothing”!
A absolute crazy statement for that era, yet science has verified it.
Another is also in the book of Job, where Jehovah asked Job if he has ever walked in the ‘trenches of the deep & fountains of the sea.’
It wasn’t until the 1870’s, w/ the
Challenger voyages, that features such as ocean trenches were deduced, then verified a few decades later…. and not until the 1960’s when ocean vents were first observed.
It’s late here. Goodnight.