3/18/2024 0 Comments The firmament pictures![]() The Sumerians acknowledged that rain itself came from clouds-Enlil tasked his brother Ishkur with overseeing that process 3 so the idea of a primeval sea and a normal water cycle weren’t mutually exclusive. It’s been said that history begins at Sumer, 2 and while it’s impossible to piece together an in-depth cosmology for the Sumerians, it seems that they believed that Enlil, the air god, had separated heaven and earth from the primeval waters before organizing the rest of the universe. 1 So when considering how the Hebrews understood rāqîaʿ, it’s helpful to be aware of their neighbors’ cosmologies. They were a people of the ancient Near East (ANE), and Scripture is filled with echoes of their neighbors’ stories and imagery-though these stories and imagery are theologically transformed by the biblical writers. Of course, Israel didn’t exist in a cultural vacuum. How we interpret this challenging word in Genesis 1 will depend on how we think the biblical authors pictured the universe, as well as on our hermeneutical presuppositions. The Hebrew term is raqia’ (rah-KEE-ah, רָקִיעַ), and it is usually translated in one of two ways-either “firmament/dome/vault” or, “expanse/sky/heavens.” I’ll reveal a simple answer now, then provide some complexity: interpreters don’t agree on the questions I’ve raised, and this explains why English Bibles are themselves divided on how “firmament” should be understood. ![]() Of course, I knew the real sky wasn’t actually a solid dome-after all, I was a twentieth-century kid born in the post-Apollo world.īut what about people in the pre-NASA days? Or the pre-Copernican days? Or in biblical times? Did they actually believe that the sky was a solid dome-or in the language of the KJV, a “firmament”? And is this what the Bible teaches? ![]() The designers of the planetarium knew the best way to simulate the movement of a spherical planet in 3D space was to project lights up onto a dome. Sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, the constellations circling across the night sky-it was magic to my adolescent brain. ![]() Sitting in that round theater, seat reclined, staring up at the domed ceiling, I would be utterly spellbound. But my favorite part was the planetarium. I loved it! We’d run through a two-story replica of the human heart, peer into terrariums of exotic snakes, and lift massive weights using nothing but our own strength (and a conveniently placed series of pulleys). Facebook Reddit Pinterest Email LinkedIn WhatsAppĪs a kid growing up in Georgia, my school used to take field trips every year to the Savannah Science Museum. ![]()
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