I think a good handle on the 8th century BCE ANE image of the cosmos sheds
light on Isaiah 40:22.
[It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants
thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
ol chug ha-aretz is the encircled or encompassed land. Turn around and look
in all directions and all of the land is covered by a dome..a vault..a
Raqiya that is a solid, hammered out structure and above which are waters
that "leak out" as rain and under which are hung the lights of the stars,
moon, sun, etc. The concept of the heavens shemayim is all of
creation...not a cozy cloud in the sky relete with harps. God sits above
all this and looks down at us as if we were grasshoppers. This was not a
geo-political referent.
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.