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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] skies in plural?

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  • From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] skies in plural?
  • Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2012 08:31:40 +0000

None of this gets around the basic exegetical fact: In Gen 1, the birds fly
across the surface of the רקיע, just like the spirit/wind hovers across the
surface of the waters. If it has a surface, it is perceived as something that
could be touched. That's what the text says.

Whether the ancients understood this as a metaphor is another issue, but one
which inevitably sees us importing extra-textual considerations, into the
equation. In other words, the argument that the רקיע is not actually
something that could be touched is invariably a foray into tangential
considerations that take us away from what the writer of Gen 1 actually wrote.


GEORGE ATHAS
Dean of Research,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia




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