RE: Grateful for So Much: Daily Life in Preparation
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Thank you! I appreciate the incentive, God willing I will publish once I get back from the trip. Hebrew studies are fascinating and Genesis specifically is fascinating, one of my favorite topics is the firmament.
Firmament ---> Expanse / Skies
The root word of firmament in Hebrew is Resh, Qof, Yod, Ayin
RQYA in modern translations is often translated by scholars as "atmosphere" or "sky" or "expanse", but in ancient times the firmament was understood as firm or hard like "beaten metal".
Can you, like him, beat out (RQYA) the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror? Job 37:18
The ancients believed in a solid ceiling over the earth, with literal water over on top and a physical Tabernacle and actual throne of God.
The Heavens recount the glory of God, the firmament (RQYA) tells of the deeds of His hands Psalms 19:1
The ancients believed God literally "beat out" a ceiling for the earth with His hands and called it "Heaven" (Genesis 1:8). Which is why there is a "ladder to Heaven" (Genesis 28:12) and there are "windows of Heaven" (Malachi 3:10) and "doors of Heaven" (Psalms 78:23) and the Heavens "tremble" (Joel 2:10) and the Heavens "open" (Deuteronomy 28:12) and the Heavens "roll up like a scroll" (Isaiah 34:4), there's even an "ends of the Heavens" (Isaiah 13:5). All of these are referring to the Firmament (RQYA) which God called "Heaven".
On the first day of creation, there was only one Heaven, but on the second day, God divided it. Once God separated the waters above from the waters below, the barrier (firmament) created a space above us which we call "Heaven", then also the barrier which He made (the firmament), He called "Heaven", and the location of the Heavenly realm called the "Heaven of Heaven" (Deut 10:14) or "The Third Heaven". (2 Corinthians 12:2)
Prophetically, on the day of the LORD, "Heaven" (that is the firmament) will pass away (2 Peter 3:10) and vanish like smoke (Isaiah 51:6), and the sea (the waters above) will be no more (Revelation 21:1). Then the separation between God and man will be gone!
It's a fascinating subject, open for much discussion and debate between ancient religious/science understandings of the world and modern secular/science understandings of the world.
Yes, all interesting stuff! I am one who likes to hear and consider many different interpretations of things. I have heard of the "snow globe" idea that the ancients thought of cosmology as a disc covered by a thin but strong dome with waters above it. The dome was partly transparent and that is why the sky is blue - we're seeing the waters above.
I try not to get too bogged down in the details as I think there is some chance that many stories in the Bible are allegory. I figure if Jesus used parables to make points, and God and Jesus are the same in some way, then God may also have told parables / allegorical stories to those who wrote the Bible. So I'm looking for the moral of the story rather than being concerned about the historicity or scientific accuracy of things in the Bible.
But it's all totally open for discussion! Different folks come to their own conclusions. I don't know much, but the little I do know is that I don't know enough to close my mind to different points of view. :)
True, the Word of God uses many parables and examples, discerning what is actual and symbolic is important. The purpose of the Word is for right living. If something is believed or proven inaccurate recorded in the word, it doesn't change the accuracy of the Character of God and His Name and the morality He instructs. As Paul writes:
It wouldn't be surprising to me to discover that the word of God is accurate in reality, even when it is very different from our assumptions and conventional understanding.