If you are unfamiliar with the firmament, then imagine for a moment the horizon, where the earth appears to meet with the sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.Of all the vexing problems modern cosmology poses for the first chapter of Genesis, such as the insufficient biblical timeline of 6 days (as opposed to billions of years) until the appearance of humans, or vegetative bloom before the sun and photosynthesis, the most acute for me is God’s creation of the firmament (רקיע rakia) on the second day. "And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. "Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?" Job 37:18 ESV And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years," Genesis 1:14 ESV "And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalm 19:1 ESV The caption underneath the engraving (not shown here) translates to "A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet." Firmament Bible Verses The image above depicts a man crawling under the edge of the sky, depicted as if it were a solid hemisphere, to look at the mysterious Empyrean beyond. The Flammarion engraving is a wood engraving by an unknown artist that first appeared in Camille Flammarion's L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire (1888). " The Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe". While each distinct, they share a similar overview of the firmament’s place and meaning in the cosmos.Ībove is a diagram representing features in the early Hebrew conception of the Universe. Throughout history, many people have attempted the interpret the visualization of the firmament through artwork. 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 as well as 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 simply 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. And the evening and the morning were the second day ( Genesis 1:6-8). And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
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