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  • From: "Dave Humpal" <ebedyah AT elite.net>
  • To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: raqia as expanse
  • Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 01:48:05 -0800


Bill Rea writes, "The firmament was thought to be a solid dome."

It seems to me the Biblical use of raqia in Genesis 1:8 indicates an
expanse, not a solid dome. This misconception of the Hebrew view came from
the LXX which translated raqia with the Greek stereoma -- firm vault. This
idea of the heavens being an expanse is repeated in Isaiah 40:22 where he
says that God stretches out the heavens like gauze, and Ezekiel 1:22 where
he speaks of raqia as shining like transparent ice. It seems the Biblical
writers did not consider the heavens to be a solid dome. This idea only
developed later.

Rev. Dave Humpal ebedyah AT elite.net
First Christian Church, Merced, California
Bible Study Site http://www.elite.net/~ebedyah/PastorsHomePage.htm
First Christian Church Site
http://www.elite.net/~ebedyah/FirstChristianHomePage.htm





  • raqia as expanse, Dave Humpal, 01/11/2001

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