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  • From: ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Gen 1:6-8.
  • Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 13:50:07 +0100


On Tue 29 Aug 2000 (18:45:49), lizfried AT umich.edu wrote:
> What do people who believe in the inerrancy of the
> biblical text do with the word raqi(a in vs 1:6-8? Do
> they think the sky is a rolled out sheet of metal
> strong enough to hold the rain waters?

We have discussed this before, Liz. The most satisfactory rendering of
Raqi(a for me is "atmosphere". It is the medium in which the (oP Y:(oWPeP
in verse 20. The (oP could be flying insects or birds or bats or pterodactyls
or anything else that "flaps" and flies, *in the air*.

The Clouds hold the rainwaters. They were so thick at first that the sun and
the moon were not visible from the surface until the Fourth 'Day'.

Raqi(a can mean a firmament, or a platform or a foundation upon which one
may stand: as in Ezekiel 1:22-26, 10:1. But birds do not fly on a platform,
so I prefer the usage of Genesis 1:8, Psalms 19:1, 150:1, and Daniel 12:3,
where it seems to be a synonym for the sky. Birds surely fly in the "sky",
don't they?

Shalom

Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
<ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm







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