Firmament in hebrew windows#

In Genesis 1:8, the first phrase is unclear as given. The ‘foundations’ in Job 38:4-6, and ‘pillars’ in Psalm 75:3, seem to portray this concept of a subterranean chamber. – Waters separated into continents and oceans – – Sky, space, ‘firmament of the heavens’ – The firmament was likely a solid foundation of land mass under the surface as pictured here: The waters above the firmament were separated into continents and oceans, 1:9. This ‘firmament’ is between the waters, Genesis 1:7, above and below. This could be the concept of a dome, as it seems to look like, as perhaps in Psalm 19:1, 150:1, Ezekiel 1:22, 10:1, and Daniel 12:3.īut, in Genesis 1:6-8, the situation is different. In these cases, it is worded as “firmament of the heavens,” Genesis 1:14, 15, 17, and 20. Sometimes in Genesis 1, the ‘firmament’ speaks of the skies and space. ‘Firmament’ in Hebrew is ‘raqia.’ It is used for hammering metal into sheets to make threads, Exodus 39:3, or into plates, Jeremiah 10:9, as used to cover the altar, Numbers 16:38, 39.

Firmament in hebrew windows#

It also proposes that some mechanism triggered the water layer, ‘the windows of heaven,’ Genesis 7:11, to break open, causing the flood.īut there is a growing number of scientists who say that such a shield could not necessarily prolong life, nor for that matter, have existed at all. This theory supposes that the canopy was a shield protecting life allowing for longevity of life. The usual explanation is that there was some kind of water or ice layer above the earth called the canopy which is pictured as follows: John Appelt Sometimes the question is also worded, “What is the canopy theory?” The question is based on the wording of Genesis 1:6, from which has come an interpretation known as the firmament/canopy theory. The firmament theory also has implications (again, according to my understanding) that are contradicted by other specific statements in the Bible that could not be (or have been) true if the firmament theory were valid, such as the visibility of the stars (discussed in Genesis 1:14-18). I have not studied Hebrew, but my understanding is that the usage of the same words in other contexts in the Old Testament does not support the contention of those words having the specific and exclusive meaning that proponents of the firmament theory assign to them. The theory seems to hinge on a specific translation of various words used in the original Hebrew text. The canopy is used to explain the long lifespans of pre-flood humanity, along with the source of all the water required to produce or explain a global flood. Army The firmament theory (to the best of my knowledge) maintains (based on a specific interpretation of the Genesis account of creation) that the original earth possessed a water canopy consisting of vapor (the most common interpretation) or ice that surrounded the earth above the troposphere and potentially up through the stratosphere. Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S.