Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

I share your doubts that the author had the planet in mind. He most probably
had a typical human perspective in mind. i.e. below our feet is haaretz and
above our head is hashamayim. By extension we can interpret this to entail
the planet but this is not the picture painted in the creation narrative.
Also, we read about waters and darkness and then only later do we get a
mention of dry land appearing. My understanding is the following sequence:

1) Nothing
2) The water covered aretz appears below and the empty shamayim appears
above
3) It gets light.
4) The water is divided so that there is water below and water in the sky
5) Dry land starts to appear as the water gathers into the sea

etc.

James Christian

2010/1/12 Joseph Justiss <jljustiss AT msn.com>

>
> The question that has to be asked is how are these words used in the Hebrew
> Bible. From what I can tell the meaning would be something like "an
> unihabitable wilderness", i.e. a place hostile to human life. Another issue
> is whether the word for "earth" here really refers to the whole planet. The
> way eretz is used in the Pentateuch suggests tht a specific piece of land is
> in view which God is preparing for human life. A better Hebrew word for the
> whole planet would be tebal. A very in depth treatment of these issues can
> be found in the following book which does very detailed exegesis on the
> Hebrew text of Genesis 1.
>
>
>
> Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account (Paperback)
>
> ~ John Sailhammer (Author)
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