10/27/2022 0 Comments Heaven bible firmament![]() ![]() Indeed, the Hebrew word for the “firmament” ( raqia ) which God created (cf. 1:6 ) is defined in the Hebrew lexicon as a solid object. One use of heaven in the Bible is to refer to the ceiling or canopy of the earth. The firmament was created by God on the second day to separate the waters from the waters ( Genesis 1:6-7 ). But this is in clear conflict with the modern scientific understanding of space as non-solid and largely empty. The great vault or expanse of sky that separates the upper and lower waters. In the present heavens and Earth there exists a three (3) heavens structure. Solution: It is true that the origin of the Hebrew word raqia meant a solid object. 'The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable.' (Proverbs 25:3 KJV) The firmament deals with the structure of the present heavens and Earth (Genesis 2:1), as opposed to the structure of the original heaven and Earth (Genesis 1:1). However, meaning is not determined by origin (etymology), but by usage. Originally, the English word “board” referred to a wooden plank. But when we speak of a church board member, the word no longer has that meaning. Firmamentum, literally means a support and corresponds to the Greek word stereoma. When used of the atmosphere above the earth, “firmament” clearly does not mean something solid. First, the related word raqa (beat out, spread out) is correctly rendered “expanse” by many recent translations. Just as metal spreads out when beaten (cf. ![]() That the Hebrews entertained similar ideas appears from numerous biblical. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together. 40:19), so the firmament is a thinned out area. Thus the Egyptians conceived the heavens to be an arched iron ceiling from. And the evening and the morning were the second day. Second, the root meaning “spread out” can be used independently of “beat out,” as it is in several passages (cf. Isaiah wrote, “So says Jehovah God, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, spreading out the earth and its offspring ( Isa. This same verb is used of extending curtains or tents in which to dwell, which would make no sense if there was no empty space there in which to live. Isaiah, for example, spoke of the Lord “who sits on the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Third, the Bible speaks of rain falling through the sky ( Job 36:27–28). One Rabbi explained the phrase Let there be a firmament in the midst. But this makes no sense if the sky is a metal dome. There are several ways in which the heavens could have been made according to the Rabbis. Nowhere does the Bible refer to little holes in a metal dome through which the drops fall. It does speak figuratively of the “windows of heaven” opening for the Flood ( Gen. ![]()
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