To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Gen 1:6-8.
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 08:52:12 -0700
> What do people who believe in the inerrancy of the
> biblical text do with the word raqi(a in vs 1:6-8? Do
> they think the sky is a rolled out sheet of metal
> strong enough to hold the rain waters?
Speaking as an inerrantist, I've dug into the word enough to know it
means "expanse" in a fairly general sense rather than the "rolled
out sheet of metal" that you maintain. But more than that, I have
no problem with this expanse being seen from the POV of earth,
nor do I have a problem with the ancient mind seeing it as some
sort of dome over the earth. Even with our (ha-ha) advanced
knowledge of science, visually that's still what it looks like. I see
no reason to split hairs like this; we have plenty of examples where
the text speaks from an earthly point of view. That doesn't
constitute an error.