heaven earth

The Firmament An Hebrew Cosmology of Genesis chapters 1 and 7 Bible quotations taken from English Standard Version (2001) Music by Natrix www.wordwatchers.link Hypothesis The cosmology of Genesis chapters 1 and 7 corresponds to the visible world. Presuppositions ● Genesis describes the visible world. ● Genesis defines its own words in plain terms. ● Genesis was written against ancient polytheism. ● Some coffers attribute to Genesis a falsified cosmology. In our schools, they taught us a contrived Hebrew cosmology that has a “firmament,” a solid sky or dome with holes in it to let rain fall to earth. That cosmology has two problems: (1) The Hebrews never believed in such a scheme; and (2) the language of Genesis 1 and 7 does not describe such a scheme. The cosmology of Genesis 1 views the creation as having two parts: the sky and the earth. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 The sky starts at the surface of the earth and extends upwards. At its origin, the earth was covered with deep water. “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:2 Because ancient polytheists prayed to their gods for rain, Genesis explains how it was the God of the Bible who created the sky from which rain falls. The word “expanse,” formerly translated as “firmament,” is defined by Genesis as the sky, which is also called the heavens. The Bible never speaks of a solid dome in the sky! Rather, the expanse is the sky extending upwards from the surface of the earth. “God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. … And God called the expanse Heaven (sky).” Genesis 1:7-8 Thus, Genesis defines its own words by ordinary terms applied to the visible world. Light = Day Darkness = Night Dry land = Earth Waters = Seas Expanse = Sky Genesis 1 sets the stage for the events of Genesis 7:11. “All the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” Genesis 7:11-12 The parallelism of “fountains of the great deep bursting forth” with “windows of the heavens opened” depicts, not holes in a solid dome letting rain fall downwards, but cracks in the earth letting water burst upwards before falling back to earth. Deductions ● The cosmology of Genesis 1 and 7 befits the visible world as we know it. ● Genesis portrays creation as the work of a single deity who alone provides for rain to fall from the sky. ● Genesis 1 sets the stage for the great flood narrative of Genesis 7. ● Scoffers who elaborate mythological cosmologies tell us more about themselves than about the Bible. ● Creationists who make the waters and the expanse into astrophysical processes may be pressing too hard.