"IS THE SKY AN ACTUAL HARD PANEL OR NOT?" THAT IS THE QUESTION
GEORGE wrote: How this relates specifically to the issue of whether the ???? is
conceived as an actual hard panel or not. As far as I can see, none of the
texts you've mentioned make use of this word. If I'm wrong on that, please
correct me - I'm very happy to change my opinion on this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A VISUAL EXPRESSION OF A THEOLOGICAL IDEA OF THE SKY/HEAVEN
ISHINAN: Dear George, if we narrow down this exchange to whether the ???? is
conceived as an actual hard panel or not, then I would say NO, the sky/Heaven
is not described in the Bible as "an actual hard panel" i.e compact, solid
matter or even a metal dome. Rather the following is an approximation of what
is the Sky/Heaven in the Bible
raqiya`: firmament [Gen 1:6, Gen 1:7, Gen 1:7, Gen 1:7, Gen 1:8, Gen 1:14, Gen
1:15, Gen 1:17, Gen 1:20, Psa 19:1, Psa 150:1, Eze 1:22, Eze 1:23, Eze 1:25,
Eze 1:26, Eze 10:1, Dan 12:3]
SKY = HEAVEN
Gen 1:8 And God called the FIRMAMENT HEAVEN . And the evening and the morning
were the second day.
YHWH'S DWELLING
Deut. 26:15 Look down from thy HOLY HABITATION, from HEAVEN, and bless thy
people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our
fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
THE FIRMAMENT IS AN OPEN SPACE NOT A SOLID MATTER
Gen 1:20 And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the OPEN
firmament of heaven.
THE SKY IS MADE OF CLOUDS
Rather the scripture renders the sky, literally and figuratively, as "a
covering of clouds". YHWH's presence is made manifest and His glory shown
forth in a cloud.
A cloud (in Hebrew : 'anan, 'abh; nephele and nephos) is a large collection of
very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and
light that they can float in the air.
The word is often used as a symbol of the Divine presence, as indicating the
splendor of that glory which it conceal.
i.e. "The cloud FILLED the house of YHWH" (I Kings 8:10).
"YHWH Himself was present IN the cloud (Exodus 19:9; Exodus 24:16;Exodus 34:5)
and His glory FILLED the places where the cloud was" (Exodus 16:10; Exodus
40:38; Numbers 10:34).
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds (like having a burden in the womb
the clouds are pregnant with water) ; and the cloud is not rent under them.(Job
26:8 )
THE GARMENT/PATCH AS A METAPHOR
Sometimes the sky is also described in (Job 38:9) as the swaddling CLOTHES of
the newborn earth "When I made the cloud the GARMENT thereof, and thick
darkness a swaddling band for it."
The garment/patch metaphor was alluded previously in my previous post "......
the Bible frequently uses the concept of the heavens covering YHWH like a tent
( which incidentally is made of patches sewed together). In fact the idea that
the heavens are YHWH 's garment finds an echo in Ps. 102:25-26 "
VISUAL APPEARANCE AND SHAPE OF THE SKY/ HEAVEN
(Rainbow, brightness, color, and hail )
In Ezekiel 1:28 As the appearance of the bow (QESHETH) that is in the cloud in
the day of rain, so [was] the appearance of the brightness (ZAHAR ) round
about. This [was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And
when I saw [it], I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
QESHETH from 'qashah' in the original sense of ('QOWSH') of bending: a bow, an
arch.
(cf. Arabic qws which also means an arch while Qws QazaH., is a Rainbow)
ZAHAR to gleam; figuratively, shine, ZOHAR = brightness
Eze 8:2, Dan 12:3
Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the
cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone (CAPPIYR), as
the appearance of the likeness of a throne ((KISS'E).
(KISSE), a royal chair or seat of dignity (Deuteronomy 17:18; 2 Sam7:13; Psalms
45:6); an elevated seat with a (CANOPY) and hangings, which cover it. Here used
as a metaphor for YHWH's
exalted dwelling in the Empyrean Heaven which is the place in the highest
heaven.
COLOR OF THE SKY
The throne of YHWH (KISSE) is described as of the colour of a sapphire (Exodus
24:10)
Because of the indefiniteness of color language is common to the Bible, colors
of the sky are often described through the surrogates of gems like Sapphire
below.
CAPPIYR): 'from 'caphar' a gem. (Arabic S.afiyr, S.fr) The sapphire is a
gemstone variety of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide. Trace amounts of
other elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper or magnesium can give
many shades of colors of which yellow is their most well-known color.
Sapphires may also be colorless. Besides yellow, sapphires can be blue, pink,
purple, or orange color. BTW a relationship to lapis lazuli is a common
misconception. Known as color change, sapphire exhibits different colors in
different light. Hence, perfectly suitable to describe the color of the sky at
different time of the day.
Eze 1:22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living
creature [was] as the colour of the terrible crystal (QERACH), stretched forth
over their heads above.
QERACH/ QORACH :from 'qarach' ice hence, hail; by resemblance, rock
crystal:--crystal, frost, ice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope I answered your question.
Best regards,
Ishinan Ishibashi
_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
