Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dan Wagner <Dan.Wagner AT dstm.com>]

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Walter says:

An interesting possible allusion to the concept of a metallic vault for the
sky are the following verses:
"I shall make the sky like iron for you, and your soil like bronze."
Leviticus 26:19
"The heavens above you will be brass, the earth beneath you iron."
Deuteronomy 28:23
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Undoubtedly the ancients invented a variety of strange ideas about he nature
of the universe. Israelite may also have taken up some of these ideas at
times, although i don't believe any are recorded in the OT. However, even if
so, these verses do not reflect such concepts any more than they reflect a
concept of iron or bronze dirt. The imagery is clear enough: If the people
refused to obey Yahweh's covenant, the curse would be that their source of
livelihood would be unproductive, as if they had a metallic sky that brought
no rain and a metallic earth that was useless for growing food. Obviously,
whoever wrote these verses believed neither in metallic soil nor in a
metallic sky/dome/heaven/firmament. If he did, these verses are meaningless:
Only disobedience/divine-curse would bring those circumstances, and even
when it came there was never the conception of a literal iron/bronze soil or
heaven. Thus, these verses are evidence that at least some Hebrews (such as
the author of the Pent.) did not accept the common notions of the ANE.

Dan Wagner


-----Original Message-----
From: Walter Mattfeld [mailto:mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com]
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 09:18
To: Biblical Hebrew
Subject: Vaulted Dome, Amos 9.6


George is right, read lots of ancient mythological texts. I would highly
reccomend M.R. Wright, Cosmology in Antiquity, London, Routledge Publishers,
1995, ISBN 0-415-12183 (paperback)

Wright:

"In Homer the vault of the sky had been given as metallic, of iron or
bronze, whereas Anaximenes called it crystalline (krystalloeides,i.e., like
ice), being hard, clear and colourless. He supposed that the fixed stars
were fastened on to it 'like nails', and that the whole hemisphere with
stars revolved 'like a skull-cap around the head." (p.42)

Homer is dated to the 8th century BCE. Some Humanist scholars have argued
that Amos is of the 8th century as well. If they are correct, then Homer's
notion of the vault of the sky being metallic, iron or brass, may be what
the Hebrew raqiya, meaning beaten (as in metal which is beaten thinly into a
hemisphere or bowl ?) ?

An interesting possible allusion to the concept of a metallic vault for the
sky are the following verses:

"I shall make the sky like iron for you, and your soil like bronze."
Leviticus 26:19

"The heavens above you will be brass, the earth beneath you iron."
Deuteronomy 28:23

All the best,

Walter

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
Walldorf by Heidelberg
Baden-Wurttemburg
Germany


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