Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ishinan" <ishinan AT comcast.net>]

"IS THE SKY AN ACTUAL HARD PANEL OR NOT?"  THAT IS THE QUESTION 

GEORGE wrote: How this relates specifically to the issue of whether the ???? 
is conceived as an actual hard panel or not. As far as I can see, none of the 
texts you've mentioned make use of this word. If I'm wrong on that, please 
correct me - I'm very happy to change my opinion on this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
 A VISUAL EXPRESSION OF A THEOLOGICAL IDEA OF THE SKY/HEAVEN


ISHINAN: Dear George, if we narrow down this exchange to whether the ???? is 
conceived as an actual hard panel or not, then I would say NO, the sky/Heaven 
is not described in the Bible as "an actual hard panel" i.e compact, solid 
matter or even a metal dome. Rather the following is an approximation of what 
is the Sky/Heaven in the Bible 

raqiya`: firmament [Gen 1:6, Gen 1:7, Gen 1:7, Gen 1:7, Gen 1:8, Gen 1:14, 
Gen 1:15, Gen 1:17, Gen 1:20, Psa 19:1, Psa 150:1, Eze 1:22, Eze 1:23, Eze 
1:25, Eze 1:26, Eze 10:1, Dan 12:3]

SKY = HEAVEN

Gen 1:8 And God called the FIRMAMENT HEAVEN . And the evening and the morning 
were the second day.

YHWH'S DWELLING 
 
Deut. 26:15  Look down from thy HOLY HABITATION, from HEAVEN, and bless thy 
people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto 
our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

THE FIRMAMENT IS AN OPEN SPACE NOT A SOLID MATTER

Gen 1:20 And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving 
creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the OPEN 
firmament of heaven.

THE SKY IS MADE OF CLOUDS

Rather the scripture renders the sky, literally and figuratively,  as "a 
covering of clouds".  YHWH's presence is made manifest and His glory shown 
forth in a cloud. 

A cloud (in Hebrew : 'anan, 'abh; nephele and  nephos) is a large collection 
of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and 
light that they can float in the air. 

The word is often used as a symbol of the Divine presence, as indicating the 
splendor of that glory which it conceal.

i.e. "The cloud FILLED the house of YHWH" (I Kings 8:10). 

"YHWH Himself was present IN the cloud  (Exodus 19:9; Exodus 24:16;Exodus 
34:5) and His glory FILLED the places where the cloud was" (Exodus 16:10; 
Exodus 40:38; Numbers 10:34). 

He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds (like having a burden in the 
womb the clouds are pregnant with water) ; and the cloud is not rent under 
them.(Job 26:8 )

THE GARMENT/PATCH AS A METAPHOR 
  
Sometimes the sky is also described in (Job 38:9) as the swaddling  CLOTHES  
of the newborn earth "When I made the cloud the GARMENT thereof, and thick 
darkness a swaddling band for it."

The  garment/patch metaphor was alluded previously in my previous post 
"...... the Bible frequently uses the concept of the heavens covering YHWH 
like a tent ( which incidentally is made of patches sewed together). In fact 
the idea that the heavens are YHWH 's garment finds an echo in Ps. 102:25-26 "


VISUAL APPEARANCE AND SHAPE OF THE SKY/ HEAVEN
 (Rainbow, brightness, color, and hail )

In Ezekiel 1:28 As the appearance of the bow (QESHETH) that is in the cloud 
in the day of rain, so [was] the appearance of the brightness (ZAHAR ) round 
about. This [was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. 
And when I saw [it], I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that 
spake.

QESHETH from 'qashah' in the original sense of ('QOWSH') of bending: a bow, 
an arch. 
(cf. Arabic qws which  also means an arch while Qws QazaH., is a Rainbow)  


ZAHAR  to gleam; figuratively,  shine,  ZOHAR = brightness
Eze 8:2, Dan 12:3

Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the 
cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone (CAPPIYR), as 
the appearance of the likeness of a throne ((KISS'E). 

(KISSE), a royal chair or seat of dignity (Deuteronomy 17:18; 2 Sam7:13; 
Psalms 45:6); an elevated seat with a (CANOPY) and hangings, which cover it. 
Here used as a metaphor for YHWH's 
exalted dwelling in the Empyrean Heaven which is the place in the highest 
heaven. 

 
COLOR OF THE SKY

The throne of YHWH (KISSE) is described as of the colour of a sapphire 
(Exodus 24:10) 


Because of the indefiniteness of color language is common to the Bible, 
colors of the sky are often described through the surrogates of gems like 
Sapphire below. 

CAPPIYR):  'from 'caphar' a gem. (Arabic S.afiyr, S.fr) The sapphire is a 
gemstone variety of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide. Trace amounts 
of other elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper or magnesium can 
give many shades of  colors of which yellow is their most well-known color. 
Sapphires may also be colorless. Besides yellow, sapphires can be blue, pink, 
purple, or orange color.  BTW a relationship to lapis lazuli is a common 
misconception. Known as color change, sapphire exhibits different colors in 
different light.  Hence, perfectly suitable to describe the color of the sky 
at different time of the day.


Eze 1:22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living 
creature [was] as the colour of the terrible crystal (QERACH), stretched 
forth over their heads above.

QERACH/ QORACH :from 'qarach' ice hence, hail; by resemblance, rock 
crystal:--crystal, frost, ice.
 
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I hope I answered your question. 

Best regards,

Ishinan Ishibashi
>From George.Athas AT moore.edu.au  Tue Sep  4 00:36:41 2012
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