MAP — Modular Aggregation of Principles for Bible Translation

In this paper it is demonstrated that the cosmos created in Genesis 1 conforms to how ancient people thought heaven and earth to be. The people of the ancient Near East (ANE) believed the earth is a flat, circular disk floating on the waters of the abyss. They believed the sky is a solid, dome-like structure that covers the whole earth, holding back a mass of water that exists above it. They also believed that daylight exists independently of the sun. It is also argued that if the translated text is made to agree with a modern cosmological understanding then this makes the creation account incoherent.

Extracted text from The_Cosmos_Created_in_Genesis_1.pdf:

The Cosmos Created in Genesis 1 John R. Roberts SIL International ABSTRACT

The people of the ancient Near East (ANE) believed the earth is a flat, circular disk floating on the waters of the abyss. They believed the sky is a solid, dome-like structure that covers the whole earth, holding back a mass of water that exists above it. They also believed that daylight exists independently of the sun. We know this through the religious mythologies, art and iconography they left behind. In this paper it is demonstrated that the cosmos created in Genesis 1 conforms to this model. The first three days of creation are examined. On creation day one day and night are created (Gen 1.35). The fact that day and night are created without the need of the earth (created on day three) or the sun (created on day four) shows that the Bible treats the day/night alternation as something independent of the earths rotation with respect to the sun. Other scripture passages confirm this view. On creation day two the heavens are created as a rq firmament to hold up the waters above (Gen 1.68). Scriptures confirm that the Bible views the heavens as a great dome or tent over the earth bent down to meet the earth at its rim or edge. Above this dome are the waters of the mabbl flood (Psa 29.10). There are scriptures which say the rq ha-mayim firmament of the heavens has openings, such as doors or windows. On creation day three the earth is created (Gen 1.910). Scriptures, such as Pro 8.2729, confirm that God created the earth as a circle drawn on the surface of the deep (thm). There are also many biblical analogies, such as the ends of the earth, which can only apply if the earth is conceptualised as a flat, circular disk. One aspect of ANE belief is that the cosmos was created de novo, i.e., as new, or as you see it. The sections on domesticated plants and domesticated animals show how this applies to the Genesis 1 creation account.

Introduction In this paper1 I present biblical evidence that the creation story in Genesis 1.12.3 describes the creation of the cosmos in terms of how people of the ancient Near East (ANE) understood the cosmos to be. The ancients believed the earth is a flat, circular disk founded on the waters of the abyss. They believed the sky is a solid, dome-like structure that covers the whole earth, holding back a mass of water that exists above it. They also believed that daylight exists independently of the sun. The first three days of creation in Genesis 1 are examined in this light. How the ancient Mesopotamian civilisations understood the world and their origins can be discerned from the many documents these cultures left behind. With respect to the Sumerian civilisation, Horowitz (2011: 134ff) says no Sumerian creation epic such as the Akkadian epic Enuma Elish, where Marduk builds and arranges the features of the universe, is known. Instead, evidence concerning Sumerian conceptions of the beginnings of the universe is found in two types of cosmological accounts. First, a number of literary texts open with prologues that record events of early times. Second, some texts recount the distribution of divine duties in early times, including the assignment of the Moon-god and the Sun-god to their heavenly posts. A common feature of these Sumerian accounts is that the cosmos began when earth was separated from heaven. Another common feature is that all was darkness in the beginning. Several accounts speak of the heavens shining before the sun or moon are created. The universe is generally conceived as comprising three regions: heaven, earth, and underworld, and a god controls each region. The Babylonian creation myth is recounted in the Epic of Creation also known as the Enuma Elish. The Mesopotamian Epic of Creation dates to the late second millennium BCE. In this mythological story Marduk destroys Tiamat. Then he rips her corpse into two halves in order to create the fresh waters of heaven and the salt waters of the seas. Marduk then created the calendar, organised the planets, stars and regulated the moon, sun, and weather. After this he hoists heaven above the earth and secures heaven to earth with durmu lead ropes.

This paper is a follow-up to Roberts (2013).

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The ancient Egyptian beliefs and concepts of creation appear in various sources: Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, The Book of the Dead, The Memphite Theology, as well as various hymns,2 Wisdom texts,3 and wall bas-reliefs.4 These sources show that Egyptian cosmology is both uniform and diverse. Although there are nearly one dozen Egyptian creation myths, the three most dominant arose in the cultic sites of Heliopolis, Memphis, and Hermopolis.5 These three interconnect with one another as evidenced by the appearance of some of the gods in more than one tradition. The cosmogonies of Heliopolis and Memphis share more in common with one another than with Hermopolis. However, they all feature the similar concepts of a primordial ocean, a primeval hill,6 and the deification of nature.7 These three cosmogonies deal specifically with how the god(s) created the world. They do not directly address the creation of humans and animals.8 The earliest recorded cosmogonies seem more concerned with accounting for the origin of the world than for that of mankind or of the animals.9 The Egyptians developed a separate creation tradition to explain the creation of humans and animals, namely the tradition of Khnum, the potter-god. The worldviews and cosmogonies of the ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians have certain commonalities of thought. The main purpose of this paper is to show that the Bible shares the same beliefs as to how the world is and how it came to be as those of other ANE peoples. A comparison is made in 2 between ANE and biblical cosmology. The section on creation day one shows that the Genesis account of the creation of day and night follows ANE beliefs about this phenomenon which is different to how we understand the nature of day and night today. ANE peoples believed the sky is a solid, dome-like structure that covers the earth, holding back a mass of water that exists above it. The section on creation day two shows that the Genesis text follows this view. ANE peoples believed the earth is a flat, circular disk floating on the waters of the abyss. The section on creation day three shows that the biblical text follows this view also. One aspect of ANE belief is that the cosmos was created de novo, i.e., as new, or as you see it. The sections on domesticated plants and domesticated animals show how this applies to the Genesis 1 creation account.

ANE Cosmology and Biblical Cosmology Compared There are a set of commonalities in the worldviews of the ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians as expressed through their religious mythologies, art and iconography. Each of these commonalities of the ANE worldview has a reflection or parallel in OT thought, as illustrated in Table 1. Table 1: Commonalities of ANE Worldviews and Biblical Cosmology Commonalities of ANE Worldviews

Biblical Cosmology

The cosmos has been created by the activities of supernatural beings or deities.

Gen 1.1 states that Elohim, the Hebrew title for the Most High God, created the heavens and the earth, i.e., the cosmos, in the beginning. In Gen 1.3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24 God said, and it was so.

The cosmos is ordered and governed by supernatural beings or deities. The cosmos has been created out of a primeval watery deep/abyss. The deep is separated into a body of fresh water above and a body of salt water below. The cosmos is created through stages (activities 2

Gen 1.68 states that Elohim created the heavens and the earth by separating the waters of the deep (thm) into the fresh waters above (mabbl flood) and the salt water below (yammm seas). Gen 1.131 describes the creation of a complete and fully

See Lichtheim (1973) volume 2, 81118. Part Two: Hymns, Prayers, and a Harpers Song.

See Hoffmeier (1983: 42). See Brandon (1963: 61), Gordon (1982). 5 See Brandon (1963: 15). 6 This is a pyramid-shaped mound called the benben. 7 See Ions (1968: 24). 8 See Brandon (1963: 14). 9 Ibid. 4

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of gods) until it is complete and fully functional. The cosmos is created de novo (as new, or as you see it).

The cosmos is conceived of as tripartite: heaven, earth, and the underworld/deep below the earth Deities form part of the cosmos, i.e., the sun, the earth, the sky, etc., are deities. In Mesopotamian creation accounts day and night existed before the creation of the sun-god and the moon-god. Daylight exists independently of the sun. This is because daylight was present even when the sun was behind a cloud or eclipsed. It made its appearance before the sun rose, and remained after the sun set. The sky is a solid, dome-like structure that covers the earth, holding back a mass of water that exists above it (see Figure 1). When it rains and storms, water and wind come through openings in the sky.

The earth is shaped like a flat, circular disk or table top (see Figure 2 Babylonian map of the world).

This flat earth is surrounded on all sides by masses of water (of the primeval deep).

The sun comes out from behind the sky, runs its course along the sky, and then returns behind it.

There are two openings in the skythe Gates of the East, and the Gates of the West. Through the one the sun enters in the morning to pass out at the other in the evening, and thence pursue its way back by the dark path of the

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functional cosmos through phases that take six days. Gen 2.1 says the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. Gen 1.1113 says plants are created as dee vegetation/ pasturage, e cultivated plants, and pr fruit trees. Gen 1.2425 says animals are created as reme creepy-crawlies, ayy wild animals, and bhm livestock. The three-way grouping in each case is the traditional Hebrew way of defining the natural world. Exo 20.4, Deu 4.18, Php 2.10 describe the biblical cosmos as tripartite: the heavens above, the earth beneath and what is underneath the earth (thm/l). In the Gen 1.12.3 account there is only one God, Elohim, who creates and governs everything. Elohim is distinct and separate from his creation. Gen 1.35 states that God created day and night before he created the sun (eme) and the moon (yra) (Gen 1.14 19). Note that the sun and moon are not named as such as the names represent deities. Passages such as Pro 4.18, Ecc 12.2, Isa 5.30, Amo 5.8, and Job 38.12 mention daylight (r) as something distinct from the sun (eme). Also, while there are many passages which speak of the heat of the sun (e.g., Psa 19.6, Isa 18.4, 49.10, Jon 4.8, Rev 7.16) there are not many which speak of its light (only Gen 1.16, Rev 22.5). Gen 1.6 says God created a rq firmament in the midst of the waters of the thm deep to separate the waters below from the waters above. Gen 7.11 says God opened the sluicegates of heaven (rubb ha-mayim) to allow the waters of the Flood (m ham-mabbl) to pour down. Then Gen 8.2 says God closed the rubb ha-mayim to stop the rain from falling. Elsewhere in the OT opening the sluicegates of heaven to allow rain to fall is deemed to be a blessing from God, cf. 2 Kgs 7.2, 19, Mal 3.10. Gen 1.9 states that God commanded the waters below to be gathered together to one place and for the earth (ere) to appear. Elsewhere in the OT this is interpreted as the earth being a flat expanse, seen either in the image of a disk or circle upon the primeval waters (Isa 40.22, Job 26.10, Pro 8.27, cf. circle of the heavens, Job 22.14) or of an outstretched garment spanning the void (Job 26.7, 38.13). The earth, with Canaan at its centre (Psa 74.12), was believed to be one mass of land (cf. the ends of the earth (Psa 65.5) or its four corners (Isa 11.12)) surrounded by an ocean. Gen 49.25, Exo 20.4, Deu 4.18, Deu 33.13 speak of the deep (thm) beneath the earth. Pro 8.2829 says the earth is founded on the deep (thm). Psa 19.46 says the sun comes out of his pavilion (upp) like a bridegroom. The upph is where the bridegroom hides before he appears in his splendour for the wedding. Psa 65.8 refers to the Gates of the East, and the Gates of the West: You make the going out (m gates) of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

underworld. The earth itself is fixed, the heavenly bodies move.

The stars are points of light set in the dome of the sky. The stars were objects of worship in ANE cultures. They were supposed to foretell events and a whole science was built up around them. The earth-god produces plants and crops.

Human beings are created to serve the gods, almost as an afterthought.

Psa 19.14a says that the glory of God is revealed to all the earth by the starry heavens and 4b6 says this knowledge of God is revealed to all by the sun which rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other end. The sun traverses across the whole earth and nowhere is hidden from its heat. Gen 1.17 says God set the stars in the firmament of heaven. As such, the stars will fall from heaven in judgment day (Isa 34.4, Mat 24.29, Rev 6.13). The Israelites were forbidden to worship the stars and their constellations (see Deu 4.19). Gen 1.1112 states that God called upon the earth to produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, according to their various kinds. In Gen 1.26 God deliberates, Let us make man, so the creation of mankind is not an afterthought. Gen 1.27 shows that the creation of mankind is indeed the climax of Gods creation. Also, rather than being created to serve the gods, mankind in Gen 1.26 are created in Gods image and likeness to rule as Gods representative on earth.

When Gen 1.12.3 is compared to the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cosmogonies it is clear that the biblical account speaks into the ANE worldview and only modifies it theologically: The Genesis account depicts the one God, Elohim, the God of the Hebrews, as the creator of all things and while he orders and governs his creation he is distinct and separate from it. The cosmos does not come about by random interactions or internecine warfare between the gods but instead the cosmos comes into being according to the purposeful order and command of Elohim. Mankind is the climax and pinnacle of Gods creation. They are created in Gods image and likeness as male and female to rule over the earth and its creatures as Gods representative.

Figure 1: The Ancient Egyptian View of the Cosmos (Keel, 1997: 36)

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Figure 1 depicts the ancient Egyptian conception of the cosmos. This pictorial depiction of the cosmos agrees closely with the mythological accounts of how the cosmos was created. It shows the sky-goddess, Nut, represented as a woman, her naked body curved to form the arch of heaven. She is adorned with the stars of heaven. Keel (1997: 36) says alongside the concept of the sky as a woman is an unrelated concept of the sky as a sea traversed by the sun god. He says the idea of a heavenly ocean probably had its origin in the observation that sky and water have the same colour (in Egyptian iconography it is usually blue-green), and that water falls from above. Lying below her is her husband Geb, the earth-god. As a chthonic deity he was associated with vegetation and the underworld. He is depicted with plants, such as barley, and other green patches on his body. It was believed that Gebs laughter was earthquakes and that he allowed crops to grow. The ancient Egyptians believed that at the end of the day, Nut swallowed the sun-god, Ra, and gave birth to him again the next morning. They had a book of the day and a book of the night. The day and the night were each divided into twelve hours.10 The book of the day described the passage of the twelve hours of day and the book of the night the passage of the twelve hours of night. Ra is depicted travelling through the day and the night. Day and night are therefore independent of the sungod Ra. The famous Babylonian Map of the World at the British Museum (see Figure 2) allows us to see how the ancient Mesopotamians understood the nature of the cosmos to be. It depicts the world as a circular disk floating on an abyss of fresh water with salt water seas all around. This agrees with the mythological account in the Enuma Elish of how the cosmos was created. This map is usually dated to the 5th century BCE but since it concords with the Enuma Elish creation account which scholars date to the Hammurabi period (18th16th century BCE) it must have been an ancient understanding of how the world was.

Mountain (Akkadian: -du-)
City (Akkadian: uru)
Urartu (Akkadian: -ra--tu)
Assyria (Akkadian: kura+urki)
Der (Akkadian: dr)
?
Swamp (Akkadian: ap-pa-ru)
Elam (Akkadian: ua)
Canal (Akkadian: bit-qu)
Bit Yakin (Akkadian: bt-ia--ki-nu)
City (Akkadian: uru)
Habban (Akkadian: ha-ab-ban)
Babylon (Akkadian: tin.tirki), divided by Euphrates 14 17. Ocean (salt water, Akkadian: idmar-ra-tum) 18 22. Mythological objects

Figure 2: Babylonian Map of the World It will be shown that the biblical cosmos created in Gen 1.12.3 is as depicted in Figure 3. The earth is a flat, circular disk supported by pillars which are founded on the waters of the abyss. Immediately below the earth is Sheol (l), the realm of the dead. Above is the dome or vault of heaven which supports and keeps aloft the waters above. The stars are embedded in the dome of heaven as fixed points of light and the sun and moon pass along the surface of the dome as moveable lightemitters in the heavens. The light of daytime was created on day one and is independent of the light from the sun which was created on day four. The dome of heaven also rests on pillars. The rim of the 10

The ancient Egyptians invented the 24-hour day.

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dome of heaven (the ends of heaven) meets the rim of the disk of the earth (the ends of the earth) at the horizon. Above the dome of heaven is the throne of God who oversees his creation from heaven. OT passages such as Pss 104.23, 59, 148.4, Job 26.11, 37.18, 38.411, Pro 8.2829, Amos 9.6 confirm this biblical view of the cosmos. Exo 20.4, Deu 4.18, Php 2.10 describe the biblical cosmos as tripartite with the heavens above, the earth beneath and what is underneath the earth.

Figure 3: A Picture of Biblical Cosmology (Reyburn and Fry, 2000)

Creation Day One On creation day one day and night are created (Gen 1.35). Gen 1.35: 3 wayymer [and-he.said] lhm [Elohim] yh [he.will.become] r [light] wayh-r [and-it.was-light] 4 wayyar [and-he.saw] lhm [Elohim] e-hr [ACC-thelight] k- [that-good] wayyadl [and-he.separated] lhm [Elohim] bn [between] hr [the-light] n [and-between] hae [the-darkness] 5 wayyiqr [and-he.called] lhm [Elohim] lr [to-light] ym [day] wlae [and-to-darkness] qr [he.called] lyl [night] wayh-ere [and-he.became-evening] wayh-qer [and-he.became-morning] ym [day] e [one] (Hebrew)11 Gen 1.35: 3 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, day one.12 Gen 1.35 says God first created light (r) and then created day (ym) and night (lyl) by separating the light from the darkness (e). The refrain And there was evening (ere) and there 11

Hebrew text is presented in roman transcription for the benefit of those who do not read the Hebrew orthography. It is the transcription used in SIL Internationals Bible Analysis and Research Tool (BART). See Table 4 and Table 5. 12 Unless otherwise specified, scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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was morning (bqer) confirms that day and night has been created. ere evening signifies the end of day one and bqer morning signifies the beginning of another day.13 In the OT, bqer is usually used to indicate the beginning of the day rather than the term mizr sunrise. The term mizr is instead used to indicate an eastward direction. Likewise, the term ere is normally used to indicate the end of the day rather than the expression for sunset k ha-eme goes the sun. However, even though bqer normally includes a sunrise and ere normally includes a sunset, in Gen 1.5 there is an evening (ere) without a sunset and a morning (bqer) without a sunrise. Day and night were thus created independently of the sun. This makes no sense from a modern cosmological perspective as we now know that day and night are produced by the earths rotation with respect to the sun. So you would need to have the sun and a rotating earth to create day and night in modern terms. But according to the Gen 1.12.1 creation account the earth is not created until day three (Gen 1.910) and the sun is not created until day four (Gen 1.1419). However, from an ANE perspective Gen 1.5 makes perfect sense. Walton, Matthews & Chavalas, eds. (2000: 28) say: The people of the ancient world did not believe that all light came from the sun. There was no knowledge that the moon simply reflected the light of the sun. Moreover, there is no hint in the text that daylight was caused by sunlight. The sun, moon and stars were all seen as bearers of light, but daylight was present even when the sun was behind a cloud or eclipsed. It made its appearance before the sun rose, and remained after the sun set. To make Gen 1.35 concord with a modern cosmological view, some apologists14 think that on the first three days of creation it was God himself who was the source of the daylight. 15 But this would be theologically unacceptable as it would make God part of his creation and part of the heavens and earth created in Genesis 1. A key theme of the polemic nature of Genesis 1 is that Elohim, the Creator God of the Hebrews, is separate from and transcendent to his creation. This is contrary to other ANE religions where deities of one kind or another populate the heavens and the earth. For example, the sun and the moon are not named as such when they are created (Gen 1.1416). They are simply called the greater and lesser luminaries (mr). This is because the names eme sun and yra moon represent deities in ancient Mesopotamian cultures. The idea that Elohim would function as a luminary for the first three days of his creation would contradict this polemic. Other scholars think that God must have created an anonymous light-giving body before he created the sun.16 But this too would be theologically unsatisfactory as it would mean that God created a foundational entity17 for the cosmos that only lasted three days until it was replaced by the real sun. A theme of the first three days of creation in the Genesis 1 account is the orderly progression from chaos to cosmos through the process of separation. The idea that God would use a temporary sun while he was constructing the foundations of the cosmos over the first three days of creation and then discard it on day four and replace it with the sun we see is nonsensical. The separation of light and dark to create day and night is also not understandable from a modern view. Since we live on a rotating globe there is always daylight on one side of the planet and night on the other side. The separation of day and night is dependent on which side of the planet you are on, i.e., whether it is the side facing the sun or not. But the problem with this understanding is again that the earth is not created until day three (Gen 1.910). So, on day one there was no planet earth to provide the rotation to separate day and night. There was also no sun to shine on the earth. However, in ANE cosmology, day and night is a fundamental component of the cosmos. In Mesopotamian creation accounts day and night existed in the beginning before the sun-god or the moongod were created. Job 26.10 confirms the biblical understanding from Gen 1.35 that day and night were created as separated domains before the earth was created. Pro 8.27 says that God created the BDB (2010 [1906]: 133) says bqer means morning. It is a point of time, a time at which, never during which. BDB (2010 [1906]: 787) says ere means sunset, evening. 14 An apologist is someone who offers an argument in defence of something controversial. 15 Calvin (2007 [1847]: 37) surmises that this passage teaches that God is the ultimate source of light and he chooses to impart light to us through the sun and the moon. In other words, God functions as the daylight for the first three creation days. 16 See John Gills comments against Gen 1.35 in Gill (174863). Hamilton (1990: 120) says that what the author states is that God caused the light to shine from a source other than the sun for the first three days. 17 Understood in modern terms as a source for daylight. 13

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earth by first inscribing a circle on the surface of the primordial deep (thm). The ancients understood that the earth was a flat, circular disk floating on top of the waters of the deep, and that the heavens were a dome over the earth. The circle of the earth in Pro 8.27 is where the rim of the circular earth and the rim of the heavenly dome meet. Job 26.10 refers to this creation activity and says that the circle of the earth was drawn at the boundary between light (day) and darkness (night). Thus the existence of day and night preceded the creation of the earth. Job 26.10: q- [(he has drawn) boundary-circle] al-pn-myim [on-face.of-waters] atal [to-end.of] r [light] im-e [with-darkness] (Hebrew) Job 26.10: He has inscribed a circle (q-) on the face of the waters at (a-) the boundary between light (r) and darkness (e). (ESV) Job 26.10: He marks out the horizon (q-) on the face of the waters for (a-) a boundary between light (r) and darkness (e). (NIV)18 Pro 8.27: When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle () on the face of the deep (al-pn hm), Notice that there is a subtle difference in how the ESV translates Job 26.10 and how the NIV translates this verse. The point of interest is in how the preposition a- is translated. BDB (2010 [1906]: 723) says a- means as far as, even to, up to with respect to a spatial dimension. The ESV translates a- as at which is within the domain of meaning for this preposition in this context. Translating with at also implies that the boundary between light and darkness existed before the circle (of the earth) was drawn. However, the NIV translates a- as for. First, for the purpose of is not part of the meaning of this Hebrew preposition. Second, for suggests that the drawing of the circle created the boundary between light and darkness. This, in turn, implies that this boundary did not exist before the creation of the earth. But this implication19 is not in the original Hebrew and is only introduced by the English translation. The NIV is concerned to concord the biblical text with a modern cosmological understanding through the translation. Furthermore, passages such as Pro 4.18, Ecc 12.2, Isa 5.30, Amo 5.8, and Job 38.12 suggest that in the biblical worldview the day has its own light independent of the sun. Pro 4.18 refers to the first light of daylight (r) rather than the first light of the rising sun. And the rest of the verse speaks of the full light of the day (ym) rather than the full light of the sun. Ecc 12.2 distinguishes the light of the day (r) from the sun (eme), the moon (yra) and the stars (km). Isa 5.30 speaks of darkening the daylight (r) rather than darkening the sun and Amo 5.8 says God darkens the day (ym) into night (lyl). In Job 38.12 God asks Job if he has commanded the morning (bqer) to dawn the day rather than the sun. Bqer is the term used in the refrain and there was evening (ere) and there was morning (bqer) in Gen 1. The skirts (kanp ) of the earth in Job 38.13 refer to the horizon where the dome of heaven meets with the rim of the disk of the earth. Within this worldview there is no difficulty in understanding that God created the light of day before he created the sun and moon as light-givers or luminaries (mr) to govern the day and the night. Pro 4.18: The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn (r), shining ever brighter till the full light (r nah) of day (ym). (NIV) Ecc 12.2: before the sun (eme) and the (day)light (r) and the moon (yra) and the stars (km) are darkened Isa 5.30: And if one looks to the land (h-re), behold darkness and distress and the (day)light (r) is darkened by its clouds. Amo 5.8: He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day (ym) into night (lyl), 18

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the New International Version (NIV): Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.. Used by permission of Zondervan. 19 Implication is the conclusion that can be drawn from something although it is not explicitly stated.

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Job 26.10: He has inscribed a circle () on the face of the waters at the boundary between light (r) and darkness (e). Job 38.1213: 12 Have you commanded the morning (bqer) since your days began, and caused the dawn (aar) to know its place, 13 that it might take hold of the skirts (kanp ) of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is also the case that whereas there are many passages which speak of the heat of the sun (e.g., Psa 19.6, Isa 18.4, 49.10, Jon 4.8, Rev 7.16) there are not many which speak of its light (only Gen 1.16, Rev 21.23, 22.5). This suggests that it is the heat of the sun that has impact on daily life rather than its light. Augustine of Hippo writing in the 4th century CE20 knew that the world was a sphere from Greek science and philosophy21 and that when the sun shines on one side of the world it must be night on the other side. He also realised that because the sun travels around the world it is always day somewhere and it is always night somewhere.22 So you can only have the day-night alternation if you stay in the one place on the surface of the earth. He then says this forces us to believe that God was in one part of the world when he created daylight and had to remain there until the night came for it to be evening and the end of the first day. He concluded that this would be theologically absurd. So from the time of Augustine in the 4th century CE it has been known that the creation of day and night described in Gen 1.45 cannot be made to agree with the earth being a globe. Fourteen centuries later John Calvin also struggled to understand how there could be a separation of day and night on a rotating earth where it is always day on one side and night on the other side.23 Note too that the day and night alternation is created before the heavens are created on day two (Gen 1.68) and the earth is created on day three (Gen 1.910). This means that day and night as a foundational component of the cosmos should apply to heaven as well as to earth. In Rev 4.8 and 7.15 this application is expressed. Rev 4.8 describes a vision of the four living creatures around the heavenly throne praising God unceasingly day () and night (). Rev 7.15 describes the great multitude in white robes standing before the throne of God, serving him day () and night () in his temple. Rev 4.78: 7 And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night ( ) they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! Rev 7.15: Therefore they (the great multitude in white robes (Rev 7.9)) are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night ( ) in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. The meaning of Greek temporal expressions is determined by what case the words are in.24 The words day and night are in the genitive case.25 The genitive of time expresses the kind of time or the time during which something happened. So this means the activities described in Rev 4.8 and 7.15 occurred during both the day and the night. The temporal expressions
day and night / night and day as genitive of time also occur in Mrk 5.5,

See Augustine (1982). In about 350 BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle observed that the curved umbral shadow of the earth on the moon during a lunar eclipse was a proof that the earth was in fact spherical. Up until this time the common belief in ancient times was that the earth was a flat disk floating on the waters of the abyss. 22 Although Aristarchus of Samos (300210 BCE) deduced a scientific heliocentric model of the solar system, Ptolemy (200 CE) proposed an earth centred universe, with the sun and planets revolving around the earth and this view prevailed until the Middle Ages. 23 See Calvin (2007 [1847]: 37). 24 See Robertson (1919: 495). 25 The nominative case forms are day and night. 21

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Luk 18.7, Act 9.24, 1 The 2.9, 3.10, 1 Tim 5.5, 2 Tim 1.3. In each instance, the meaning is during the day and the night. Mrk 5.5: Night and day ( ) among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. [genitive of time] Luk 18.7: And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night ( )? [genitive of time] Act 9.24: but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night ( ) in order to kill him, [genitive of time] 1 The 2.9: or you remember, brothers, our labour and toil: we worked night and day ( ), that we might not be a burden to any of you, [genitive of time] 1 The 3.10: as we pray most earnestly night and day ( ) that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? [genitive of time] 1 Tim 5.5: She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, ( ) [genitive of time] 2 Tim 1.3: I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day ( ). [genitive of time] Less frequently, the temporal expression night and day occurs in the accusative case, as in Luk 2.37 and Act 26.7. The accusative of time expresses the extent of time. The meaning in these examples is thus for the length of the day and night. In other words, the activities occurred throughout the whole day and the whole night. Luk 2.37: and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day ( ). [accusative of time] Act 26.7: to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day ( ). [accusative of time] The expression in the genitive therefore has a precise meaning of during the day and the night which is different to the accusative of time expressed by . While (accusative of time) entails the activity occurred throughout the night and the day, (genitive of time) does not have this entailment.26 Hence, the genitive
day and night in Rev 4.8 can be qualified with [rest] [not] [they. have] not resting. But in order for to have the temporal meaning of during the day and the night there must be a day and night to refer to in this context as the kind of time. The context of Rev 4.8 and 7.15 is heaven. Therefore there must be day and night in heaven. In support of this conclusion, in Rev 6.9 John sees the souls () of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne under the altar in the temple. They cried out with a loud voice, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (Rev 6.10). Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been (Rev 6.11). The use of the temporal expressions how long and rest a little longer, until indicate that time is passing in the celestial temple/ heaven. Therefore the use of day and night ( ) in Rev 4.8 and 7.15 must also be a reference to time passing. The means of indicating the passage of time that God made in the beginning is the day and night alternation he created on day one (Gen 1.35). This applies to the whole cosmos including heaven. Rev 6.911: 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a 26

That is, it does not have this requirement for its truth value.

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little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. The day and night alternation only ceases in the new heaven and earth. See Rev 21.2225, 22.5. These passages in Revelation refer to the separation of day and night in Gen 1.35 and say there will be no more night (darkness) in the new heaven and earth. They also refer to Gen 1.15 where the sun and the moon are created to give light upon the earth. Since there will no longer be night, i.e., a day/ night alternation, there will no longer be the need of the sun and the moon to separate these domains (Gen 1.14). Rev 21.2225: 22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day ()and there will be no night () there. Rev 22.5: And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. Gen 1.1415: 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for religious festivals and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth. The biblical view that the sun is not the source of daylight created on day 1 was also part of the belief system of the Early Church. St Ambrose (born 337 CE) wrote in his Hexameron: We must remember that daylight is one thing and sunlight, moonlight and starlight another the suns purpose is to give daylight additional brilliance. This understanding is also clearly illustrated by the mosaics in St Marks cathedral (rebuilt in the 11th cent. CE) in Venice and by the frescos in the baptistery in Florence and the basilica of St Francis at Assisi, all of which show the Creator placing in the sky two disks of equal size distinguished only by their colour or by an inscription.

Creation Day Two On creation day two the heavens are created (Gen 1.68). Gen 1.68: 6 wayymer [and-he.said] lhm [Elohim] yh [he.will.become] rq [firmament] b [in-midst.of] hammyim [the-waters] wh [and.he.will.become] madl [separating] bn [between] mayim [waters] lmyim [to-waters] 7 wayyaa [and-he.made] lhm [Elohim] e-hrq [ACC-the-firmament] wayyadl [and-he.separated] bn [between] hammayim [the-waters] er [which] mittaa [from-under] lrq [the-firmament] n [and-between] hammayim [the-waters] er [which] mal [from-on] lrq [thefirmament] wayh-n [and-it.was-so] 8 wayyiqr [and-he.called] lhm [Elohim] lrq [the-firmament] mayim [heavens] wayh-ere [and-he.became-evening] wayh-qer [andhe.became-morning] ym [day] n [second] (Hebrew) Gen 1.68: 6 And God said, Let there be an expanse (rq) in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven (mayim heavens). And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. As already mentioned, ANE peoples believed the sky is a solid, dome-like structure that covers the earth, holding back an ocean of water that exists above it. This is where precipitation comes from. See the ancient Egyptian understanding of the cosmos depicted in Figure 1. The Mesopotamian Enuma Elish Epic of Creation dates to the late second millennium BCE. In this mythological story Marduk destroys Tiamat. Then he rips her corpse into two halves in order to create the fresh waters of heaven and the salt waters of the seas. After this he hoists heaven above the earth and secures heaven to earth

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with durmu lead ropes.27 In the Enuma Elish the heavens are portrayed as being more like a tent canopy than a solid dome. Against this background, Gen 1.68 says God created a rq to separate the waters above from the waters below. In order to achieve this kind of separation the rq must be something solid, even watertight. The noun rq is derived from the verb rqa, which means to hammer out flat28 as in riqq pam hammered plates (Num 16.38[17.3]).29 Therefore rq in Gen 1.68 would have been understood as denoting a metal plate or sheet of some kind.30 Gen 1.17 says God set the sun, moon and stars in the rq ha-mayim. The Hebrew verb translated set here is ntan, and it has three senses: 1. give, 2. put or set, and 3. make or constitute.31 When ntan is used with the second sense elsewhere in the OT where a physical object is placed in a location, then the location has to be something with physical substance (cf. Exo 25.30 where table has physical substance, Exo 40.5 where ark has physical substance, 2 Kgs 12.9 where altar has physical substance, 2 Chr 4.7 where temple has physical substance). Therefore the implication in Gen 1.17 is that rq has physical substance for the sun, moon and stars to be set (ntan) in it. Furthermore, Gen 1.20 says (in the Hebrew) let birds fly above the earth across the surface (pn face) of the firmament (rq) of the heavens (ha-mayim). Here pnm literally means faces and is the same word as used in Gen 1.2: and darkness was over the face (pn) of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face (pn) of the waters. In both v. 17 and v. 20 pnm means surface. A surface is a flat, two-dimensional area. The depiction given in Gen 1.20 is therefore of the birds flying above the earth and across the surface of the dome of the sky above. Gen 1.1618: 16 And God made the two great lightsthe greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the nightand the stars. 17 And God set (yittn) them in the expanse (rq) of the heavens (mayim) to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. Gen 1.20: And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the surface (pn face) of the firmament (rq) of the heavens (mayim). Descriptions of rq elsewhere in the OT also depict it as something flat with physical substance. Psalm 19 is a Psalm of David. Vv. 16 declare how God reveals himself to his people through his creation. V. 1 specifically says: the rq above proclaims his (Gods) handiwork. In this case rq (v. 1) is identified with the sky (described as a tent (hel) in v. 4) where the sun rises each day at one end of the heavens, makes its circuit across the sky, and goes down at the other end of the heavens (Psa 19.4b6). The sky (rq) is thus depicted as a domed tent canopy across which the sun passes. The upph is the tent or pavilion where the bridegroom hides before he appears in his splendour for the wedding. Thus, the sun is conceived of as existing in a hidden compartment behind the sky (rq) before it rises. Notice too that Psa 19.6 says the sun goes from one end (qh) of heaven to the other end (qh) of heaven.32 This confirms the psalmist thinks heaven is a dome of some sort that meets the earth at its rim. Psa 19.16: 1 The heavens (ha-mayim) declare the glory of God, and the sky (rq) above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth (ere), and their words to the end of the world (tl). In them he has set a It seems this suspension of earth from heaven is alluded to in Job 26.7: He (l God) stretches out the north (p n) over the void (th) and hangs the earth (ere) on nothing (bl-m). 28 See Klein (1987: 628), BDB (2010 [1906]: 956), NIDOTTE Vol 3 (1997: 1198), Harris, ed., (1999 [1980]), Baker, ed., (1994: 2367). 29 The [17.3] in square brackets indicates the chapter and verse number in the Hebrew Masoretic Text. 30 The denotation of a word is the object or concept to which a word refers. 31 See BDB (2010 [1906]: 67882). 32 It is not explained in the Bible how the sun gets back from where it sets in the west to where it rises in the east. The actual explanation is that it is because the earth spins on its axis in an easterly direction. But it was not until Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543 proposed a heliocentric model of the universe that the earths easterly rotation began to be established. 27

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tent (hel) for the sun (eme), 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber (upp), and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens (mi-qh ha-mayim), and its circuit to the end of them (al-qm), and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Psalm 150 is the last Psalm. The exhortation in v. 1 to praise God in his mighty heavens is literally bi-rqa uzz in the firmament of his (Gods) strength. Here rq is depicted as something strong and firm which glorifies God. In Ezekiels vision (Ezk 1.22, 23, 25, 26, 10.1) rq is described from the perspective of heaven as something solid and flat, sparkling like ice, and which is awesome to behold. In Revelation a similar vision says: Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. (Rev 4.6) The biblical understanding that the sky is something hammered or stretched out flat and solid is also supported by Job 37.18, Isa 42.5, 44.24, 51.13, Zech 12.1. The verb n in Isa 51.13 and Zech 12.1 means stretch out, spread out, extend, incline, bend.33 The passages in Isa 34.4a and Rev 6.14 liken the heavens to a scroll that can be rolled up. Therefore the conceptual metaphor34 expressed in these passages is that God has created the heavens as a great dome or tent canopy over the earth and bent it down to meet the earth at its rim or edge. Job 37.18: Can you, like him, spread out (rqa) the skies (qm clouds), hard as a cast metal mirror? Isa 42.5: Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched (rqa) them out, Isa 44.24: I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out (rqa) the heavens, Isa 51.13: and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out (neh) the heavens

Zech 12.1: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out (neh) the heavens Isa 34.4a: All the host of heaven (b ha-mayim) shall rot away, and they (ha-mayim) will roll up like a scroll. Rev 6.14: The sky ( heaven) vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Elsewhere in the Bible, the firmament of heaven (rq ha-mayim) is depicted as having openings. Gen 28.12 says Jacob dreamed he saw a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven. He saw the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. After his dream, Jacob was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate (aar) of heaven. (Gen 28.17) Rain (Gen 7.11, 8.2, Jgs 5.4, Deu 11.11) and dew (Gen 27.28, 39, Deu 33.28) come down from heaven. Psa 78.2324 says the Israelites wandering in the wilderness received manna and grain through doors (dal) in heaven. In Rev 4.1 John says he saw a door () standing open in heaven (). Psa 78.2324: 23 Yet he commanded the skies (qm clouds) above and opened the doors of heaven (dal mayim), 24 and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. Rev 4.1: After this I looked, and behold, a door () standing open in heaven ()! As well as gates and doors the biblical heaven has windows or sluicegates (rubb), through which rain (Gen 7.11, 8.2), grain (2 Kgs 7.2, 19), or blessings (Mal 3.10) can come down to earth. Most commentators say the windows of the heavens were opened in Gen 7.11 is a figure of speech for a heavy downpour and this expression should not be understood as literally referring to windows or sluicegates in heaven. But in the expression the windows of the heavens were closed in Gen 8.2 the reference to rubb windows must be literal as here they are being closed rather than opened. 33

See BDB (2010 [1906]: 63941). A conceptual metaphor is a metaphor (or figurative comparison) in which one idea (or conceptual domain) is understood in terms of another. 34

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Furthermore, Gen 7.12 says And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The wa-yh and it was at the beginning of the verse is a waw-consecutive verb and this indicates that the rain falling on the earth follows the event described in the preceding clause. The preceding clause says and the windows of the heavens were opened. If this clause is understood literally then the opening of the windows of heaven is the cause of rain falling on the earth for forty days and forty nights. This makes sense. However, if this clause is understood figuratively then the cause of the rain falling for forty days and nights is a heavy downpour of rain. This does not make sense. So, the author of these passages is referring to what he understood to be literal windows in heaven. The motive for interpreting the windows of the heavens were opened in Gen 7.11 figuratively is because a literal interpretation would not agree with a modern understanding of the world. But Gen 7.11 and 8.2 are written from an ANE view of the world. Gen 7.11: In the six hundredth year of Noahs life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens (rubb ha-mayim) were opened. Gen 7.12: wa-yh [and-it.was] hag-geem [the-downpour] al-h-re [on-the-earth] arbm [forty] ym [day] w-arbm [and-forty] lyl [night] (Hebrew) And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. Gen 8.2: The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens (rubb ha-mayim) were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, There are also many passages in the NT which speak of the heavens () being opened. Mrk 1.10 says heaven was torn open. The implication from these passages is that heaven is conceived of as being something like a great wall which is normally closed preventing anyone from seeing inside. Mat 3.16: And when Jesus was baptised, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens ( ) were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; Mrk 1.10: And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens ( ) being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Luk 3.21: Now when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens ( ) were opened, Jhn 1.51: And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven ( ) opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Act 7.56: And he said, Behold, I see the heavens ( ) opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Act 10.11: and saw the heavens ( ) opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. While the biblical view that the heavens are a solid dome over the earth is completely alien to how we understand the heavens to be today, it may surprise some to know that the idea that the heavens are solid at some level was not finally abandoned until the 17th century CE. After Greek astronomers worked out in the 4th and 3rd century BCE that the earth is a sphere from observing that the earth throws a circular shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse they developed a cosmological model of celestial spheres.35 In this model the apparent motions of the fixed stars and the planets are accounted for by treating them as embedded in rotating spheres made of an aetherial, transparent fifth element (quintessence),36 like jewels set in orbs. The medieval scholastics37 adopted a cosmology that fused the ideas of the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Ptolemy. This cosmology involved celestial orbs, 35

Prior to this, ancient cultures understood the earth to be a circular disk floating on the waters of the abyss. The other four elements of existence were in order of elevation earth, water, air and fire. 37 Scholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics of medieval universities in Europe from about 11001700. 36

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nested concentrically inside one another, with the earth at the centre. The outermost orb contained the stars and the term firmament was then transferred to this orb. Even the heliocentric model of Copernicus included an outer sphere that held the stars (and by having the earth rotate daily on its axis it allowed the firmament to be completely stationary). Tycho Brahes studies of the nova of 1572 and the comet of 1577 were the first major challenges to the idea that orbs existed as solid, incorruptible, material objects. In 1584, Bruno proposed a cosmology without firmament: an infinite universe in which the stars are actually suns with their own planetary systems.38 After Galileo began using a telescope to examine the sky, it became harder to argue that the heavens were perfect, as Aristotelian philosophy required. By 1630, the concept of solid orbs was no longer dominant. The waters above created in Gen 1.68 are another integral part of the biblical cosmos. Their primary function is to provide rain on the earth as Psa 104.13 indicates. In Psa 148.26 the waters above the heavens are called upon as part of the heavenly host along with angels, and the sun, moon and stars to give praise to God. The note at Psa 148.4 in The NIV Study Bible refers the waters above the skies in verse 4 to Gen 1.7 and also compares these waters with the ocean depths in verse 7. This indicates that here the psalmist is referring to the waters above the rq and the waters below the rq as God created them in Gen 1.7. Psa 104.13: He waters the mountains from his upper chambers (lit. upper rooms); the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. (NIV) Psa 148.16: 1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! 2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! 3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! 4 Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens (hammyim er mal ha-mayim)! 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. 6 And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Psa 104.23 indicates that the waters above are regarded as the foundations of heaven. Psa 104.3 and Deu 33.26 describe God as riding through the heavens on the clouds. Psa 104.3: He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters (am-mayim); he makes the clouds (m) his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; Deu 33.26: There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens (mayim) to your help, through the skies (qm clouds) in his majesty. Jer 10.13, 51.16, Job 12.15, 26.8 show that the waters above are under the control of the Lord God to bless or withhold blessing: Jer 10.13 and 51.16: When he thunders the waters in the heavens (mayim ba-mayim) roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. (NIV) Job 12.15: If he withholds the waters (in the heavens) (bam-mayim), they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. Job 26.8: He binds up the waters (of heaven) (mayim) in his thick clouds (yw), and the cloud (nn) is not split open under them. The waters above can be used in judgment. Gen 7.4 says in seven days God will cause rain (mamr) to fall on the earth for forty days and forty nights. This rain will come from the waters of the flood (ham-mabbl) (Gen 7.7) and will require the windows of heaven (rubb ha-mayim) to be opened to release them (Gen 7.11). Then for the waters of the flood to cease required that God close the windows of heaven (Gen 8.2). The author of Genesis says rubb ha-mayim nip t the windows of heaven were opened (Gen 7.11) and rubb ha-myim way-yikkl hag-geem min-ha-myim the windows of heaven were closed and the rain from heaven was restrained (Gen 38

In 1600 CE, Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for his heretical teaching. Although historians agree that his heresy trial was not a response to his astronomical views but rather a response to his philosophy and theology, 19th- and early 20th-century commentators regarded him as a martyr for science.

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8.2). Opening and closing the windows of heaven is the means by which God passed judgement on the earth. Gen 7.7: And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood (m ham-mabbl). Gen 7.11: In the six hundredth year of Noahs life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens (rubb ha-mayim) were opened. Gen 8.23: 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens (rubb ha-mayim) were closed, the rain from the heavens (hag-geem min-ha-myim) was restrained, 3 and the waters (mayim) receded from the earth continually. The term mabbl is rare in the OT and only occurs outside of Genesis 711 in Psa 29.10. The two opening verses of Psalm 29 set the scene for this psalm in heaven. V. 3 speaks of Gods majestic power over the mighty waters. Exo 15.10 in the Song of Moses and Miriam gives praise that the Egyptians were overwhelmed by the mighty waters of the sea. However, Psa 29.10 says God is enthroned in heaven over the flood (lam-mabbl).39 Thus the psalmist identifies mabbl with the waters above the rq. Psa 29.3, 10: 3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters (mayim rabbm). 10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood (lam-mabbl); the Lord is enthroned as King forever. (NIV) Therefore the scriptures view the waters above the firmament (rq), the mabbl, as (i) created in the beginning, (ii) integral to the proper functioning of the cosmos, (iii) the foundation of heaven, (iv) can be used by God to bless or withhold blessing, and (v) can be used by God as the mabbl of judgment. English versions divide into those that translate rq from an ANE cosmological worldview and those that try to concord the translation of this word to a modern cosmological perspective. To illustrate a translation that tries to concord to a modern cosmological perspective, consider how the TEV translates rq in Genesis 1. Initially, in Gen 1.68, the TEV translates rq with dome. This is a good equivalent as dome means a round roof that is built on a flat circular base (COBUILD). Dome also implies something solid. Then in Gen 1.8 the TEV has He named the dome Sky. The Hebrew word here is mayim heaven(s). Ha-mayim is the place above where the angels, the sun, moon and stars, and the waters above are located (see Psa 148.24). God is also in heaven (see 1 Kgs 8.30, Psa 102.19). Sky, on the other hand, refers to the space of the atmosphere around the earth which looks blue in the daytime and dark at night. The concept of sky covers everything you can see when you look up, including the sun, moon and stars, but this concept does not include the idea that there is a great body of water above the sky, nor the idea that God lives in the sky. However, the primary meaning of heaven is that it is the place where God lives.40 Using heaven to translate mayim would therefore be closer to what mayim denotes in Gen 1.8. By using sky to translate mayim in Gen 1.8 the TEV concords the creation account to a modern cosmological worldview. But the modern notion of sky does not exist in the biblical worldview. The nearest equivalent to sky in the Hebrew is aaq. NIDOTTE Vol 4 (1996: 83) says this word is used 21 times in the OT. In more than half of the instances, aaq denotes clouds in the sky (Job 35.5 38.37, Pro 8.28), but it also occurs as a synonym of the heavens (Job 37.18, Psa 36.5[6]). However, the author of Genesis uses mayim rather than aaq in Gen 1.8 to name rq. Translations of rq in Genesis 1 in the Todays English Version:41 Gen 1.68: 67 Then God commanded, Let there be a dome (rq) to divide the water and to keep it in two separate placesand it was done. So God made a dome, (rq) and it (rq) The NIV Study Bible note says the reference may be to Noahs flood (see Gen 6.17). See 1 Kgs 8.30, Mat 6.9. 41 Scriptures marked TEV are taken from the Todays English Version (TEV): Scripture taken from Todays English Version first edition copyright 1976 American Bible Society. Used by permission. 39 40

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separated the water under it (rq) from the water above it (rq). 8 He named the dome (rq) Sky. (mayim) Evening passed and morning camethat was the second day. Gen 1.1419: 14 Then God commanded, Let lights appear in the sky (bi-riq ha-mayim) to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin; 15 they will shine in the sky (bi-riq ha-mayim) to give light to the earthand it was done. 16 So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars. 17 He placed the lights in the sky (bi-riq ha-mayim) to shine on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God was pleased with what he saw. 19 Evening passed and morning camethat was the fourth day. Gen 1.20: 20 Then God commanded, Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let the air be filled with birds (wp yp p al-h-re al-pn rq ha-mayim). The term rq occurs three times in Gen 1.1419 as part of the expression rq ha-mayim firmament of the heavens. If the TEV were consistent with what has gone before then this expression would be translated as dome of the sky. But the TEV translates rq ha-mayim with just sky. If the TEV were to use dome of the sky in Gen 1.1419 then this would imply that God set the sun, moon and stars in the earths atmosphere and this would not concord with a modern worldview. Then rq occurs finally in Gen 1.20 as part of the sentence wp yp p al-h-re al-pn rq ha-mayim. The full translation of this sentence is: Let the birds fly above the earth and over/ across the surface of the dome of the sky. But the TEV translates this with let the air be filled with birds. Whereas the Hebrew makes it explicit that rq should be conceived of as a solid dome with a surface, the TEV obscures this meaning by translating al-h-re al-pn rq ha-mayim with air. Technically, this is an accurate translation. The Hebrew says the birds fly in the space between the earth below and the dome of the sky above. From a modern perspective this would be the air of the earths atmosphere and so air is an accurate translation for the place where birds fly. But this translation, in effect, equates rq with the earths atmosphere. The problem then is that in the TEV Gen 1.12.3 creation account rq denotes multiple entities which are quite different to each other. In Gen 1.68 rq denotes a dome capable of holding aloft the waters above, in Gen 1.1419 rq ha-mayim denotes the place where the sun, moon and stars are set, and in Gen 1.20 rq ha-mayim denotes the place where the birds fly. But there is no evidence from the Hebrew text that rq has a different meaning in each of these instances. Also translating rq with these different denotations makes it somewhat difficult to make sense of the creation account from a modern cosmological perspective. How does the earths atmosphere hold the waters aloft? What are these waters in the sky? How can the birds fly where the sun, moon and stars are? Whereas if we read Gen 1.12.3 from the perspective of a biblical cosmology as depicted in Figure 3 then it is a coherent account. But this reading would only be available in the English translation if rq was consistently translated as dome (of heaven/the heavens). The TEV migrates from an initial ANE denotation of rq as dome, which implies a biblical cosmic geography, to a modern worldview where rq is equated with sky, as understood in modern terms. This makes the creation account incoherent with either worldview. For example, in Gen 1.68 the waters above the sky is incoherent with a modern worldview and identifying mayim with sky (aaq) is incoherent with a biblical worldview. Most translations present either an ANE worldview or a modern worldview. Those English translations that translate according to an ANE cosmological perspective are: KJV, ASV, RSV, NKJV, Amp firmament (this is a transliteration from the Latin firmamentum), NAB, TEV, NRSV, Schocken, CEV dome, Moffatt, NEB, REB, NJB, TNIV vault, Knox solid vault, and BBE solid arch. Those that translate according to a modern cosmological perspective are: Fenton, YLT, NASV, NIV, NET, Tanakh, ESV expanse, NLT (1996, 2004), NIRV, NLT space, GW horizon, EVD air, NCV something, air and LB, Message/Remix separate (v). Note that with these latter renderings only expanse, space and horizon are translations of rq. The NCV, LB and Message/Remix actually avoid specifying what rq is in their translations. It is also interesting to note how translations of rq have been updated in translation revisions. The NIV expanse has been changed to vault in the TNIV (a modern worldview to an ANE worldview switch of denotation) but the ASV firmament has been changed to expanse in the NASV (an ANE worldview to

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a modern worldview switch of denotation). The RSV has firmament while the NRSV has the more colloquial dome, and the NLT (1996, 2004) translates rq as space in both cases. I would maintain, however, that translating rq with expanse or space or horizon is inaccurate in each case. I have argued, and many biblical exegetes agree, that the lexical meaning of rq is that of a flat plane, such as a plate (of metal/glass) or a sheet (of fabric/metal). The verb expand, from which the noun expanse is derived, means to increase in size, more specifically, to increase in amount or volume. For example, a property of a gas is that a gas will expand to fill whatever space it occupies. COBUILD says for its definition of the word expanse that an expanse of sea, sky, etc. is a very large amount of it that you can see from a particular place. Therefore the intensional meaning of the English word expanse includes the notion of large amount of which the Hebrew word rq does not have as part of its intensional meaning.42 In addition, the Hebrew word rq has as part of its intensional meaning something substantive, capable of holding the waters of the heavens in place. The English word expanse lacks this semantic content in its intensional meaning. Therefore expanse is an inaccurate translational equivalent for rq. Those English versions that translate rq in Gen 1.69, 1418, 20 with expanse seek to concord the biblical creation account with modern cosmology. The NLT (1996) and revised NLT (2004) both translate rq with space. The stated purpose of the NLT (2004) is to improve the accuracy of the translation in rendering the correct meaning of the biblical source text while maintaining clarity of understanding in natural modern English. Much of Genesis 1 in the NLT (2004) revision has been changed to reflect more of what the Hebrew text actually says. But Gen 1.6 in NLT (2004) still has space for rq: Then God said, Let there be a space (rq) between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth. But space is arguably a more inaccurate translational equivalent for rq than expanse, since space more explicitly defines a volume. This rendering of rq as a space also makes the account incoherent. How does a space support the waters above in Gen 1.7? Furthermore, if the author of Gen 1.6 had intended to denote that a space separated the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth he could have used the Hebrew word rewa space to do so, as he does in Gen 32.16, for example. The motivation for translating rq with space is to concord the biblical text with a modern understanding of the universe. Gen 32.16: These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, Pass on ahead of me and put a space (rewa) between drove and drove. Gods Word for the Nations Gen 1.68: Then God said, Let there be a horizon (rq) in the middle of the water in order to separate the water. 7 So God made the horizon (rq) and separated the water above and below the horizon (rq). And so it was. 8 God named [what was above] the horizon (rq) sky. There was evening, then morninga second day. (GW)43 6

The Gods Word for the Nations (1995) version translates rq with horizon. This may be because of: I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon () on the face of the deep (Pro 8.27). However, Pro 8.27 describes the ANE notion that the horizon is where the sky is sealed to the earth to prevent the cosmic waters above the sky and below the earth from flooding into the cosmos. Translating rq as horizon in Gen 1.68 does not explain how the rq holds the waters above aloft. This rendering of rq as horizon also produces inconsistencies with the GW translation. Whereas the Hebrew says way-yiqr lhm l-rq mayim and God called the rq heaven, the GW has to adjust this to God named [what was above] the horizon sky as the horizon is obviously not the heavens or the sky. In addition, if the author of Genesis had wanted to denote that it was the horizon he had in mind in Gen 1.68 he could have used the Hebrew

The intensional definition of a word specifies the necessary and sufficient conditions for when the word should be used. For example, an intensional definition of the word bachelor is unmarried man. 43 Scriptures marked GW are taken from the Gods Word (GW): Scripture taken from Gods Word copyright 1995 by Gods Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

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word for this concept, circle, compass, circuit, horizon, as in Pro 8.27. The motivation for translating rq with horizon is to concord the biblical text with modern cosmology.

Creation Day Three On creation day three the earth is created (Gen 1.910). Gen 1.910: 9 wayymer [and-he.said] lhm [Elohim] yiqqw [they.will.together] hammayim [the-waters] mittaa [from-under] hamayim [the-heavens] el-mqm [to-place] e [one] wreh [and-she.will.be.seen] hayyabb [the-dry] wayh-n [and-it.was-so] 10 wayyiqr [and-he.called] lhm [Elohim] layyabb [to-dry] ere [earth] lmiqwh [andto-confluence.of] hammayim [the-waters] qr [he.called] yammm [seas] wayyar [andhe.saw] lhm [Elohim] k- [that-good] (Hebrew) Gen 1.910: 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. BDB (2010 [1906]: 387) say that the meaning of yabb in Gen 1.910 is dry land as opposite to sea. NIDOTTE Vol 2 (1997: 394) says that yabb in Gen 1.910 refers to the dry ground that God brought out of the water at creation. Harris, ed., (1999 [1980]) says that yabb emphasises dry land in contrast to bodies of water (cf. Jon 2.11). Thus the separation of yabb from the waters gathered into one place depicts the creation of two separate domains designated earth (ere) and seas (yammm). In Gen 1.26 mankind is given dominion and rule over these separate domains referred to as the sea (hay-ym) and all the earth (kol-h-re). Gen 1.26: Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea (hay-ym) and the birds of the heavens (ha-mayim), over the livestock, over all the earth (kol-h-re), and over all the creatures that move along the ground (h-re). (NIV) NIDOTTE Vol 1 (1997: 518) says ere has a broad range of meaning, from the whole earth, through particular countries, especially the land of Israel, local districts, the soil, to the ground inside a tent (Jos 7.21). BDB (2010 [1906]: 76) say ere has these senses: 1) the whole earth or earth opposite to heaven, 2) a country, territory, 3) ground, soil, 4) people of the land. Since there is no country or territory in view in Gen 1.10 and people did not exist at this point in the creation story the options for the meaning of ere in Gen 1.10 are limited to the whole earth or ground, soil. The first meaning would be appropriate for the domain that mankind is to live in and to rule over but not the second meaning. I therefore conclude that ere in Gen 1.10 must refer to the whole earth as a domain of creation separate from the domain of ym/yammm. Traditionally, ere in Gen 1.10 has been translated as Earth/earth in English versions. However, some more modern versions (i.e., NIV, NET, NLT, CEV, Rotherham, NIRV, EEB) translate ere as land here. This is because understanding ere in Gen 1.10 as planet earth makes no sense from a modern cosmological viewpoint. But land meaning a part of the world that is solid dry ground rather than the sea is not available as a sense of ere. Therefore, land is an inaccurate translation of ere in Gen 1.10. The motivation for translating ere in Gen 1.10 as land is again to concord the Hebrew text with a modern cosmological interpretation. What is the form of the earth that appears out of the waters in Gen 1.9? Pro 8.2729 provides further details of how God created the earth in Gen 1.910. First, he established or set up (kn)44 the heavens. Then God drew or inscribed (gaq)45 a circle ()46 on the surface (pn) of the deep (thm) in order to create the earth. The Hebrew term can only be understood as circle in this context, since the verb gaq means to engrave, inscribe or draw on a flat surface. Pro 8.27 cannot mean that God drew a sphere on the surface of the deep, for example. Apart from the fact that the primary meaning of gaq is to cut into and any sphere produced by the action of this verb would be a 44

See BDB (2010 [1906]: 46567). See BDB (2010 [1906]: 349), NIDOTTE Vol 2 (1997: 4041). 46 See BDB (2010 [1906]: 295). 45

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hollow one, the term for a sphere or ball in Hebrew is kaddr (Isa 22.18) and this term is not used in Pro 8.27. Furthermore, Pro 8.28 speaks of God establishing the fountains (n) of the deep (thm). These are the same fountains that burst open in Gen 7.11. They necessarily connect the surface of the earth to the deep below. Pro 8.29 says God marked out (gaq) the foundations (ms) of the earth. The primary meaning of gaq is to cut into and it is used in Isa 22.16 to describe the process of hewing out a tomb in the rock. Therefore the metaphorical concept depicted in Pro 8.29 is of God hewing out the foundations of the earth in the deep below the earth. Pro 8.2729: 27 When he established (kn) the heavens, I [Wisdom] was there; when he drew (gaq) a circle () on the face (pn) of the deep (thm), 28 when he made firm the skies (qm clouds) above, when he established the fountains (n) of the deep (thm), 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out (gaq) the foundations (ms) of the earth, The noun in Pro 8.27 is derived from the verb which only occurs in Job 26.10. Here it refers to the horizon where heaven and earth meet. The noun also occurs in Job 22.14 and Isa 40.22. In Job 22.14 it is the circle () of heaven and in Isa 40.22 it is the circle () of the earth. The derived noun m, which means circle instrument a device used to make a circle commonly called a compass, also occurs in Isa 44.13. Job 26.10: He has inscribed a circle () on the face (pn) of the waters at the boundary (tal) between light and darkness. Job 22.14: Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault () of heaven. Isa 40.22: It is he who sits above the circle () of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; Isa 44.13: The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass (m). Some English versions of the Bible, such as KJV, Webster and Jubilee, translate in Job 22.14 as circuit of heaven. However, most modern versions translate here as vault of heaven (e.g., RSV, TEV (dome), NIV, REB, NLT, NET, BBE (arch), Amp). On the other hand, two versions translate in Job 22.14 with the same meaning as this word has in Pro 8.27 and Job 26.10. The CEB translates with rim and the ISV translates with horizon. Since the primary meaning of is circle the translations of vault or dome are not equivalents of since these entities are hemispheres and three-dimensional rather than two-dimensional. The translations of rim (CEB) and horizon (ISV), on the other hand, are suitable equivalents for in this context. This interpretation identifies the circle of heaven in Job 22.14 as the rim of the dome (rq) of heaven that meets the circle of the earth in Isa 40.22. Job 22.14: Clouds conceal him so he cant see while he walks on heavens rim (). (CEB) Job 22.14: Thick clouds cover him so he cant see as he walks back and forth at heavens horizon (). (ISV)47 Dan 4.1011[78]: 10 The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. 11 The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth (l-sp ar). That the earth is envisioned as a flat disk in the OT is also reflected in Nebuchadnezzars vision as recounted in Dan 4.1011[78]. Here, Nebuchadnezzar told Daniel that he saw a tree in the midst of the earth, which was of a great height and was visible to the ends of the earth (l-sp ar). Daniel 47

Scriptures marked ISV are taken from the International Standard Version (ISV): Scripture taken from International Standard Version, copyright 19962008 by the ISV Foundation. All rights reserved internationally.

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interpreted the great tree as the dominion of the king which reaches up to the sky and extends to distant parts of the earth (Dan 4.22[19]). However, such a tree could only be seen from the ends of the earth if the earth was conceived of as being flat and circular. If the earth was a globe then no matter how tall the tree was it could not be seen by anyone beyond the horizon. The exegesis that the biblical earth (ere) is understood to be a flat, circular disk is supported by the fact that there are many OT references to the ends or edges of the earth. The commonest term used to refer to the ends of the earth is qh which means end, extremity; border, outskirts, edge, boundary, brink.48 This term is used in Deu 13.7[8], 28.49, 64, Job 28.24, Pss 46.9[10], 61.2[3], 135.7, Pro 17.24, Isa 5.26, 40.28, 41.5, 9, 42.10, 43.6, 45.22, 48.20, 49.6, 52.10, 62.11, Jer 10.13, 25.31, 33, 51.16. The related term qw ends is used in Pss 48.10(11), 65.5(6), Isa 26.15, Job 38.13, Isa 26.15. Another common term for ends of the earth is ap s end, extremity,49 which is used in Pss 2.8, 22.27[28], 48.10[11], 59.13[14], 65.5[6], 67.7[8], 72.8, 98.3, Pro 30.4, Mic 5.4[3], Zech 9.10. Several other terms are also used to refer to the ends of the earth. This includes knap wing (of bird), extremity50 in Job 38.12 and Isa 24.16, and gl border, boundary51 in Psa 74.17. If the earth is a globe then its surface cannot have an end or edge or boundary or limit of any sort, since in whichever direction you go you will always be on its surface. However, if the earth is conceptualised as a two-dimensional circular disk then if you travelled far enough in any direction you would eventually reach the edge of the diskthe ends of the earth. Job 28.24 says God can see the whole earth when he looks to the ends of the earth (li-q h-re). Job 28.24: For he (God) looks to the ends of the earth (li-q h-re) and sees everything under the heavens. There are many scriptures where the end(s) of the earth is used as a measure of the whole earth. In Deu 28.64 qh h-re is used to refer to the whole earth (all peoples) from one end of the earth (qh h-re) to the other end (qh h-re). In this case, qh h-re is used as a measure of the whole earth. In Job 28.24 God looks to the ends of the earth (q h-re) and sees the whole earth. Job 38.13 says the earth can be taken hold of by its knap extremities, corners, skirts to shake the wicked from the earth. Psa 46.9[10] says the Lord makes wars cease to the end of the earth (qh h-re), i.e., throughout the whole world. Psa 48.10[11] says praise to God will reach the ends of the earth (qw ere), i.e., the whole world. Psa 72.8 says Gods dominion may reach from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth (ap s re) so that all kings may fall down before him and all nations may serve him (v. 11). Psa 98.3 says Gods steadfast love and faithfulness to Israel is a testimony of Gods salvation to all the ends of the earth (ap s re), i.e., all the peoples of the earth. In Isa 24.16 ends of the earth (knap h-re) refers to the whole world. In Isa 42.10 end(s) of the earth (qh h-re) refers to the whole world including those who inhabit the coastlands. In Isa 43.6 Gods people are brought from the end(s) of the earth (qh h-re), i.e., the whole world, including the north and the south. In Isa 48.20, 49.6, Jer 25.31, 33 end(s) of the earth (qh h-re) refers to the whole world. In Dan 4.11[8], 22[19] end of the earth (sp ar) refers to the whole world. In Mic 5.4[3] and Zech 9.10 ends of the earth (ap s re) refers to the whole world. The end(s) of the earth can only function as a measure of the whole earth if the earth is conceptualised as a flat, circular disk. If the earth is a globe it does not have ends to be measured by. The notion that the earth has ends, limits and boundaries also occurs in the NT (see Mat 12.42, Luk 11.31, Act 1.8, 13.7, Rom 10.18). The Greek words used for ends of the earth are end, limit, boundary, conclusion and farthest, end, last. Mat 12.42: The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends () of the earth () to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

BDB (2010 [1906]: 892) BDB (2010 [1906]: 67) 50 BDB (2010 [1906]: 489) 51 BDB (2010 [1906]: 148) 49

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Luk 11.31: The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends () of the earth () to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Act 1.8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end () of the earth (). Act 13.47: For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends () of the earth (). Rom 10.18: But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends () of the (inhabited) world (). Mat 24.27 and Luk 17.24 say the coming of the Son of Man will be as visible to all on the earth as when the lightning () flashes from the eastern horizon to the western horizon. This metaphorical comparison can only apply if the earth is conceived of as being a flat disk with the eastern and western horizon being the opposite extremities of the disk. Mat 24.27: For as the lightning () comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Luk 17.24: For as the lightning () flashes and lights up the sky () from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. In contrast to the earths outer limits, a centre or navel of the earth (abbr) is mentioned just once (Ezk 38.12, cf. Jgs 9.37, Jub 8.19). Stadelmann (1970: 14754) suggests that Jerusalem (cf. Ezk 5.5), and possibly Bethel at an earlier time (cf. Gen 28.1012, 1718), were considered in this light, in keeping with the views of many ANE and other peoples that their central sanctuary or capital city represented such a centre. In Jub 8.19 it is Mount Zion that is the centre of the navel of the earth. However, for any point on the surface of the earth to be regarded as the centre of the earth would require the earth to be a flat disk. The centre of a spherical earth would be deep within the earth at its inner core. Ezk 38.1112: 11 I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates, 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the centre (abbr) of the earth. Ezk 5.5: Thus says the Lord GOD: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the centre (b) of the nations, with countries all around her. Jub 8.19: And he knew that the Garden of Eden is the holy of holies, and the dwelling of the Lord, and Mount Sinai the centre of the desert, and Mount Zion--the centre of the navel of the earth: these three were created as holy places facing each other. We also saw that for light and darkness to be separated into day and night in Gen 1.45 that this could not apply if the earth was a globe, since on a globe it is always daylight on one side and night on the other side. Also, morning and evening can only be achieved on a globe at a fixed point on the surface of a globe that is rotating. Yet the scriptures describe the earth as being fixed and immovable, as in 1 Chr 16.30, Pss 93.1, 96.10 and 104.5, while the heavenly bodies, such as the sun, moon and stars, move with respect to the earth. Cf. Psa 19.56 where the sun runs its course from one end of the heavens to the other, Jos 10.1214 where Joshua commands both the sun and the moon to stand still in the sky, and Job 38.3133 where God challenges Job to control the movement of the constellations of stars. Again, this does not agree with our current knowledge. The earth does not stand still. It rotates on its axis once every 24 hours and it orbits around the sun at 107,300 km/h. The moon orbits around the earth in approximately 27.32 days. In fact, the earth and the moon orbit about their barycentre (common centre of mass), which lies about 4,600 km from earths centre. Measurements of gas velocities in the solar neighbourhood show that the sun, and everything in its vicinity, orbits the

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centre of the Milky Way galaxy at a speed of about 220 km/s. So for the sun and the moon to literally stand still in the sky, as it says in Jos 10.1214, would require that the whole universe stopped moving for a day! 1 Chr 16.30: tremble before him, all the earth (ere); yes, the world (tl) is established; it shall never be moved. Psa 93.1: The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world (tl) is established; it shall never be moved. Psa 96.10: Say among the nations, The LORD reigns! Yes, the world (tl) is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Psa 104.5: He set the earth (ere) on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. Psa 19.16: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth (ere), and their words to the end of the world (tl). In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Jos 10.1214: 12 At that time Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon. 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded the voice of a man, for the LORD fought for Israel. Job 38.3133: 31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? 33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? There are many intractable problems with regard to how the first day was created in Gen 1.35 if the earth is conceived of as a globe. But if the earth is conceived of as a flat, circular disk and that daylight is created indep

The Cosmos Created in Genesis 1

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