Ishinan wrote: > 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.
Actually, this is not correct. You've mistranslated the Hebrew expression עַל־פְּנֵ֖י רְקִ֥יעַ הַשָּׁמָֽיִם. The expression is literally "over the surface of the firmament of the sky". In particular, the expression עַל־פְּנֵ֖י implies something that has a surface. The discussion of the word 'sky' is not really all that revealing, since it can be used to refer to a number things: the open sky below the רקיע or the whole entire structure that is 'up there'. Very clearly, though, in Gen 1.20, the sky has a רקיע, which itself has a surface. GEORGE ATHAS Dean of Research, Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au) Sydney, Australia _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
