![]() Or, the waters above the firmament could simply be a reference to clouds. Originally, God created the earth with water “under” the sky (terrestrial and subterranean water) and water “above” the sky-possibly a “water canopy” which enwrapped the earth in a protective layer. ![]() Genesis says that the firmament “separated the water under the expanse from the water above it” (Genesis 1:7). ![]() In the firmament, we see the sun, moon, and stars in modern translations the firmament is often called the “expanse” or the “sky.” It is the space which includes the earth’s atmosphere and the celestial realm. The “firmament” is called “heaven” i.e., it is what people see when they stand outside and look up. It is mentioned 17 times in the King James Version of the Bible and refers to the expanse of the heavens above the earth. Īn article specifically about the “firmament” says that the word comes from the Latin firmamentum which means “sky” or “expanse”. Whatever the case may be, there is no canopy up there today and any suggestion that there was one in the past is speculation because there simply isn’t enough evidence one way or the other, except for the one enigmatic reference to waters above the firmament in Genesis 1:6 and no one claims to know for sure what that means. That is, we know full well that the sun is stationary and doesn’t really “rise” or “set,” despite our usage of terms implying its movement from our earth-bound vantage point. In defense of the view that raqiya means “atmosphere,” the reference in Genesis 1:14-17 to the sun, moon and stars residing there may have simply been a phenomenological statement, just as our modern terms “sunset” and “sunrise” are phenomenological descriptions. It also looks at the suggestion that a pre-flood canopy would filter out much of the cosmic radiation that is harmful to humans and cause the lack of rain or rainbows. The article goes on to explore “the canopy theory” which speculates that after the flood in Noah’s day water vapour from above the Earth formed the deluge that lasted for five and a half weeks. But Genesis does not provide a name for the waters above the raqiya, nor is there any water above our atmosphere today, assuming that raqiya does mean “atmosphere.” The waters below the raqiya He named “sea” (yam in Hebrew) and the raqiya itself He named “heaven,” “air” or “sky,” depending on your translation of the Hebrew word shamayim. On the second day of creation, God created the raqiya, placing it in the midst of the water, thereby separating it into two parts: “the waters above the firmament ” and the waters below it. I found an article on the subject, part of which says this:Īccording to Genesis, before there was air or land or any form of life, the earth was a formless mass of primordial water. I understand the the Hebrew word translated as “firmament” is raqiya. Genesis 1:20 says that birds fly in the “firmament” (our atmosphere), but it also says (in Genesis 1:14-17) that the sun, moon and stars reside there. No, it does not actually say the sky is made of water, but it does say that God created a “firmament” between the waters under and the waters above the Earth. Ra literally sailed a boat across the sky. This was the primary cosmology for quite some time. And today the standard model of physics still views the universe as a kind of bendy fluid grid of potential. We had the universe filled with aether up until a century or two ago. It is clear that their image of the universe was this way, and it hasn’t changed much since then for all of us. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.Īnd God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” Hence “waters above” and “waters below.”įor example, in the flood narrative, God undoes creation in Genesis 7:11 And whenever they dug down deep enough, they strike water. The ancient world had a “submarine cosmology.” Looking at the sky, it does seem fluid in the changing of colors and the motion of clouds and rain falling.
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