In this chapter, we will examine these two arguments, looking first at the history of the cosmological views of the ancient world, the early church, and the Middle Ages. It was not, reconstructionists argue, until the rise of modern science that it was finally recognized that the biblical view of cosmology was naive and untenable. This understanding continued to be accepted throughout the early history of the Christian church and the Middle Ages. Second, this view was common to other peoples of the ancient Near East, especially in Mesopotamia, which was considered the probable source of Hebrew cosmology. The first is textual and linguistic: the context and meaning of certain words such as rāqîa ʿ support this reconstruction. In support of this reconstruction of Hebrew cosmology, supporters bring two lines of argument to bear. This understanding of Hebrew cosmology is so common that pictures of it are frequently found in Bible dictionaries and commentaries. On the surface of the flat earth were terrestrial oceans (“waters below the firmament”) and dry land below the earth were subterranean waters (“fountains of the deep”) and the netherworld of the dead ( šĕ ʾ ôl). The dome also possessed windows or gates through which celestial waters (“waters above the firmament”) could, upon occasion, pass. Attached to the dome and visible to observers below were the stars, sun, and moon. Above this solid dome was a celestial ocean (“waters above the firmament”). This understanding is built around the idea that the Hebrew word rāqîa ʿ, which appears in Genesis 1 and is usually translated “firmament” in English Bibles, was actually understood by the ancient Hebrews to be a solid, hemispherical dome or vault that rested upon mountains or pillars that stood along the outermost perimeter of a circular, flat disk-the earth. Genesis 7:11 mentions these windows, stating, “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.This article was originally published as a chapter in the book “ The Genesis Creation Account and Its Reverberations in the Old Testament."Īnyone who wishes to study ancient Hebrew cosmology will quickly discover that the common understanding among most modern biblical scholars is that the Hebrews had a prescientific, even naive, view of the universe. The water for rain, snow, hail, etc., was stored outside the raki’a, which had "windows" to release them onto the earth. According to Genesis 1:8, God called the firmament Heaven, giving it significance beyond just the border between the earth and beyond.Īccording to biblical cosmology, the firmament, seen as the sky from Earth, is essentially a fixed upside-down container over the Earth, colored blue from the heavenly waters above it. As part of the cosmic design, the firmament is the formation above the atmosphere of Earth, understood as an immense stable arch. In the story of creation, as found in Genesis, God formed the firmament to divide the "waters above" the earth from the "waters below" the earth. The “firmament” is mentioned 15 times in the King James Version of the Bible and refers to the expanse of the heavens above the earth. It was the support also of the heavenly bodies ( Genesis 1:14) and is spoken of as having "windows" and "doors" ( Genesis 7:11 Isaiah 24:18 Malachi 3:10) through which the rain and snow might descend. The raki'a supported the upper reservoir ( Psalms 148:4). It formed a division between the waters above and the waters below ( Genesis 1:7). It is plain that it was used to denote solidity and expansion. The language of Scripture is not scientific but popular, and hence we read of the sun rising and setting, and also here the use of this particular word. They who rendered raki'a by firmamentum regarded it as a solid body. This word means simply "expansion." It denotes the space or expanse like an arch appearing immediately above us. Merriam-Webster defines the firmament as “the vault or arch of the sky heavens.”Īccording to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, from the Vulgate firmamentum, which is used as the translation of the Hebrew raki'a, or raqia. The definition of the firmament can be essentially summarized as the arch or vault over the earth and sky that separates the earthly realm from what is beyond.
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