Genesis 1:6

1:6-13 The earth was emptiness, but by a word spoken, it became full of God's riches, and his they are still. Though the use of them is allowed to man, they are from God, and to his service and honour they must be used. The earth, at his command, brings forth grass, herbs, and fruits. God must have the glory of all the benefit we receive from the produce of the earth. If we have, through grace, an interest in Him who is the Fountain, we may rejoice in him when the streams of temporal mercies are dried up.

And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,.... On which the Spirit of God was sitting and moving, Genesis 1:2 part of which were formed into clouds, and drawn up into heaven by the force of the body of fire and light already produced; and the other part left on the earth, not yet gathered into one place, as afterwards: between these God ordered a "firmament to be", or an "expanse" (v); something stretched out and spread like a curtain, tent, or canopy: and to this all those passages of Scripture refer, which speak of the stretching out of the heavens, as this firmament or expanse is afterwards called; seePsa 104:2 and by it is meant the air, as it is rendered by the Targum on Psalm 19:1 we call it the "firmament" from the (w) word which the Greek interpreter uses, because it is firm, lasting, and durable: and it has the name of an expanse from its wide extent, it reaching from the earth to the third heaven; the lower and thicker parts of it form the atmosphere in which we breathe; the higher and thinner parts of it, the air in which fowls fly, and the ether or sky in which the sun, moon, and stars are placed; for all these are said to be in the firmament or expanse, Genesis 1:17 .

These are the stories in the heavens the Scriptures speak of, Amos 9:6 and the air is divided by philosophers into higher, middle, and lower regions: and so the Targum of Jonathan places this firmament or expanse between the extremities of the heaven, and the waters of the ocean. The word in the Syriac language has the sense of binding and compressing (x); and so it is used in the Syriac version of Luke 6:38 and may denote the power of the air when formed in compressing the chaos, and dividing and separating the parts of it; and which it now has in compressing the earth, and the several parts that are in it, and by its compression preserves them and retains them in their proper places (y): and let it divide the waters from the waters; the waters under it from those above it, as it is explained in the next verse; of which more there. (v) "expansio", Montanus. Tigurine version; "extensio", Munster, Fagius, Vatablus, Aben Ezra; "expansum", Junius, Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Schmidt, Sept. "firmamentum", V. L. (w) Id. (x) Vid. Castell. Lex. col. 3647. Fuller. Miscell. Sacr. l. 1. c. 6. (y) Vid. Dickinson. Physica "vetus et vera", c. 7. sect. 13, 14. p. 88, 89.

Genesis 1:6 . Let there be a firmament — This term, which is an exact translation of the word used by the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Old Testament, by no means expresses the sense of the word used by Moses, רקיע , rakiang, which merely means extension or expansion. And as this extension or expansion was to be in the midst of the waters, and was to divide the waters from the waters, it chiefly, if not solely, means the air or atmosphere which separates the water in the clouds from that which is in and upon the earth. Thus the second great production of the Almighty was the element which is next in simplicity, purity, activity, and power, to the light, and no doubt was also used by him as an agent in producing some subsequent effects, especially in gathering the waters into one place. It is true, we afterward read of the sun, moon, and stars being set in the firmament of heaven: but the meaning seems only to be that they are so placed as only to be visible to us through the atmosphere.

(6) A firmament. —This is the Latin translation of the Greek word used by the translators of the Septuagint Version. Undoubtedly it means something solid; and such was the idea of the Greeks, and probably also of the Hebrews. As such it appears in the poetry of the Bible, where it is described as a mighty vault of molten glass ( Job 37:18 ), upheld by the mountains as pillars ( Job 26:11 ; 2Samuel 22:8 ), and having doors and lattices through which the Deity pours forth abundance ( Genesis 7:11 ; Psalm 78:23 ). Even in this “Hymn of Creation” we have poetry, but not expressed in vivid metaphors, but in sober and thoughtful language. Here, therefore, the word rendered “firmament” means an expanse. If, as geologists tell us, the earth at this stage was an incandescent mass, this expanse would be the ring of equilibrium, where the heat supplied from below was exactly equal to that given off by radiation into the cold ether above. And gradually this would sink lower and lower, until finally it reached the surface of the earth; and at this point the work of the second day would be complete.

6–8. The Firmament of the Heaven 6 . Let there be … waters ] The work of the “second day” is the creation of the so-called “firmament” of heaven. The Hebrews had no conception of an infinite ethereal space. The vault of heaven was to them a solid arched, or vaulted, structure, resting upon the pillars of the earth ( Job 26:11 ). On the top of this dome were the reservoirs of “the waters above the heaven,” which supplied the rain and the dew. Beneath the earth were other reservoirs of waters, which were the sources of the seas, lakes, rivers and springs. After the creation of light the next creative act was, according to the Hebrew cosmogony, the division of the primaeval watery abyss, by means of a solid partition which is here denoted by the word rendered “firmament.” The waters are above it and below it. a firmament ] This word reproduces the Lat. firmamentum ; LXX στερέωμα . The Hebrew râqîa denotes (see Heb. Lex .) “extended surface, (solid) expanse” (as if beaten out ; cf. Job 37:18 ). For the verb raq‘a=beat , or spread, out , cf. Exodus 39:3 , Numbers 17:4 , Jeremiah 10:4 , Ezekiel 1:22 , “and over the head of the living creatures there was the likeness of a firmament … stretched forth over their heads above.” Compare Job 37:18 , “canst thou with him spread out ( tarqi‘a ) the sky which is strong as a molten mirror?” See Psalm 19:1 ; Psalm 150:1 , Daniel 12:3 , where “firmament” = sky. A diagram representing the Semitic conception of the Universe .

From Dr Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible , by kind permission of Messrs T. & T. Clark. For the solidity of the heaven according to this conception, cf. Amos 9:6 , “it is he that buildeth his chambers in the heaven, and hath founded his vault upon the earth.” The fall of rain was regarded as the act of God in opening the sluices of heaven, cf. Genesis 7:11 , 2 Kings 7:2 ; 2 Kings 7:19 , Psalm 78:23 ; Psalm 148:4 , “ye waters that be above the heavens.” The LXX adds at the end of this verse, “and it was so.” This formula, which appears in Genesis 1:11; Genesis 1:15; Genesis 1:24 , in each case after the words of Divine fiat, seems more suitable here than at the close of Genesis 1:7 , as in the Hebrew text.

A firmament; or, an extension, or a space or place extended or stretched out, and spread abroad like a tent or curtain, between the waters, though not exactly in the middle place; as Tyrus is said to sit, or be situated in the midst of the seas , Ezekiel 28:2 , though it was but a little space within the sea. But of these things see more in Genesis 1:7 .

Ge 1:6-8. Second Day. 6. firmament—an expanse—a beating out as a plate of metal: a name given to the atmosphere from its appearing to an observer to be the vault of heaven, supporting the weight of the watery clouds. By the creation of an atmosphere, the lighter parts of the waters which overspread the earth's surface were drawn up and suspended in the visible heavens, while the larger and heavier mass remained below. The air was thus "in the midst of the waters," that is, separated them; and this being the apparent use of it, is the only one mentioned, although the atmosphere serves other uses, as a medium of life and light.

Verse 6. - Day two . The work of this day consisted in the formation of that immense gaseous ocean, called the atmosphere, by which the earth is encircled. And God said, Let there be a firmament ( rakiya , an expand, from rakah , to beat out; LXX., στερέωμα ; Vulgate, firmamentum ) in the midst of the waters . To affirm with Knobel, Gesenius, and others that the Hebrews supposed the atmospheric heavens to be a metallic substance ( Exodus 24:10 ), a vault fixed on the water-flood which surrounds the earth ( Proverbs 8:27 ), firm as a molten looking-glass ( Job 37:18 ), borne by the highest mountains, which are therefore called the pillars and foundations of heaven ( 2 Samuel 22:8 ), and having doors and windows ( Genesis 7:11 ; Genesis 28:17 ; Psalm 78:23 ), is to confound poetical metaphor with literal prose, optical and phenomenal language with strict scientific statement. The Vulgate and English translations of rakiya may convey the idea of solidity, though it is doubtful if στερέωμα (LXX.) does not signify that which makes firm as well as that which is made firm (McCaul, Wordsworth, W. Lewis), thus referring to the well-known scientific fact that the atmosphere by its weight upon the waters of the sea keeps them down, and by its pressure against our bodies keeps them up; but it is certain that not solidity , but expansiveness , is the idea represented by rakiya (cf.

Scottish, tax, to stretch; Job 37:18 ; Psalm 104:2 ; Isaiah 40:22 ). "The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,Transparent, elemental air, diffusedIn circuit to the uttermost convex Of this great round." ( Milton, 'Par. Lost,' Bk. 7. ) And let it divide the waters from the waters . What these waters were, which were designed to be parted by the atmospheric firmament, is explained in the verse which follows. Genesis 1:6