Smoodock's Blog

How did the ancient Jews understand the cosmos, and is this important to our own understanding of the accuracy of the Bible? Today, we think we are able to measure our observable universe, and we calculate it to be about 93 billion light years in diameter. Certainly, the ancient Jews couldn’t conceive of such a large universe. No one who took part in writing the Bible even knew what a light year is! So, what did they know? What did their universe look like, as it was understood by them? Did they believe the earth had corners (Isaiah 11:12), or was it a circle (Isaiah 40:22)? Did the earth have ends, so that the wicked could be shaken out of it, as one might shake a sheet or a rug (Job 38:13)? What would the geographical end of the earth look like?

The ancient Jews’ conception of the heavens is equally puzzling for modern readers. When “God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1), the whole thing was a mishmash of chaotic ‘stuff’ all mixed together (Genesis 1:2), but on the second day of creation, he began to establish order by creating natural law to govern what he had brought into existence. On a local level, from our perspective, he made a firmament (rakia – H7549), which he called heaven, to divide the waters that were below heaven, from the water above heaven (Genesis 1:6-8). This is where things get muddy (pun intended)! Many modern scholars, both believers and non-believers, want to make the firmament “firm” or solid. In fact, we get the English word, firmament, from the Latin Vulgate translation: firmamentum, which, itself, is translated from the Septuagint’s stereoma (G4733), and the Greek word means: something that is established, or gives stability. It is translated: “steadfastness of your faith” in Colossians 2:5. Thus, many Biblical scholars believe the intent of the Hebrew word, rakia (H7549), at Genesis 1:6-8 should be something solid, which is pressed or hammered out like gold into a thin sheet as in Exodus 39:3, where the verb form of rakia (H7549), vis-à-vis raka (H7554) is used

The verb is also used in Job 37:18 “Have you with him spread out (raka – H7554) the sky, which is strong (some translations have solid), and as a molten looking glass” (parenthesis and emphasis mine)? However, there are a few points we need to consider about this verse. First, it was spoken by Elihu, not God. So, it isn’t God who is saying the sky is solid, like a looking glass. Secondly, the word sky (H7834) means a powder (as beaten small) and most likely refers to the clouds. Finally, the Book of Job is one of the ‘wisdom’ books of the Hebrew scriptures, and much of it is poetry. How literal can we be in the genre of poetry? The point is, if Job 37:18 can point to powder being beaten small into something like a vapor, how solid must we think firmament should be in Genesis 1:6-8, as solid as gold (Exodus 39:3) or as solid as a cloud, a vapor (Job 37:18)? We need to be careful that we don’t read too much into the text, when we are trying to decide how the ancients understood what is written (cp. 1Corinthians 4:6).

Many Biblical scholars like to think of the ancient Jewish understanding of cosmology was something like a flat disk (the earth) upon which the dome of heaven rested. Inside this solid dome were the clouds, the sun, moon and stars (including wandering stars/planets), and the storehouses of the rain and snow. However, this seems to me to be a reach too far, vis-à-vis too far from what would normally be understood from a simple reading of the text. After all, the writer was describing what appeared to be true, and he expected his readers to understand what he wrote, just as he understood that to be. Nevertheless, even if a solid dome for heaven is exactly what the ancient Jews thought the cosmos was, what has this to do with the accuracy of the text itself, as that pertains to it being the inspired word of God, who cannot lie?[1] It mentions what the Jews believed the cosmos was, and the Lord spoke with them according to their understanding so that he could be understood:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you possess understanding! Who set its measurements – if you know – or who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone” (Job 38:4-6).

So, knowing the genre of the verses above is poetry, is the Lord describing what actually was done or was his purpose to say that he did it. In other words, he was responsible for creating the earth/universe, no matter how the ancient Jews understood his handiwork?

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[1] See my previous study: Inspired by God Who Cannot Lie!