Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Andrew Kulikovsky <anku AT CelsiusTech.com.au>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG [mailto:peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG]
> 
> But now you are importing cosmology from the 20th century, or 
> at least from after Copernicus.

No, not at all. I am not saying that raqia _means_ interstellar space but
that _in Gen 1_ it REFERS to interstellar space ie. where the sun, moon and
stars are.

> Don't forget that the dictionaries are working only from the data you 
> have: the usage in the Hebrew Bible in context; ancient and not so 
> ancient translations which may have imported alien cosmologies; and 
> the apparent derivation from the root RQ( "beat, stamp, beat out, 
> spread out" (BDB). And they have some parallels of dubious value in 
> other Semitic languages e.g. Arabic raqa`a "patch, repair". 
> So you may do as well to decide for yourself from reading the texts and 
> comparing the usage of the verb RQ(.

As I said before, all the uses of raqia in the OT refer to something that
is, or can be, stretched out or expanded.

cheers,
Andrew
-- 
Andrew S. Kulikovsky B.App.Sc(Hons) MACS
Software Engineer
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