Again, this was a time in Earth's history for the separation of the troposphere cloud layer from the stratosphere, mesosphere and the ionosphere.
This space, expanse, or firmament became a dividing line for those waters on the Earth from those waters above the Earth.
God made this space or expanse or firmament. The word in Hebrew is Asah. This word has the connotation of fashioning something, bringing it about by one's handiwork. This is different than Barah, or to create from nothing as in 1:1.
Again, God spoke and this was so, so what is God's purpose in having waters above us and below us?
© 2009 Roy Blizzard III
This is a comment I received from Rick Balia:
ReplyDeleteI read your blogs about the Bible interpretations and found it very interesting! Personally, your writings definitely sparked a different way of thinking, especially since I am engineering based.
First of all, I want to say that I am in no way knowledgeable in this area, so if I say something that is completely in left field, it is because I do not have the education to speak very intelligent on the subject, but I do try and rationalize explanations whenever possible. With that, here's a thought of mine that came up while reading your posts. I'd like your feedback in order to get your perspective. After reading the blogs, it dawned on me that there is definitely room for interpretation when translating the scriptures. Many of the scriptures were written at a time when much of the science was not known, so those who wrote the scriptures had to write in such a way to explain things using the knowledge they possessed at the time of the writings. For instance, day and night, light and dark, etc... this is their interpretation of the information that God had given to them, right? I equate this to a blind persons interpretation of color; a person that can see color knows the color blue, but how is this explained to a blind person who has never seen color (or anything for that matter) his entire life? I would imagine that a blind person would have to use their other senses to try and interpret the color blue (is it usually warmer than other colors? does it have shape? does it smell differently than other colors?). In other words, if the prophets have never seen God's realm, they use words like light and dark, day and night, to try and describe what they have never seen so they, and others, can understand; they use tangible knowledge to describe the intangible, much like a blind person would try to describe color. Or maybe the prophets did in fact see God's realm, but there were no tangible words to describe it, much like if a blind person was miraculously able to "see" one day, then went back to describe it to all of his blind friends. My thought is, maybe interpretation of some of the literal words are not as important as the meaning behind the words? Is the description of light God's active presence (the Holy Spirit?), and does this have any real relation to the sun's light (another convenient tangible interpretation in some cultures)?
I just wanted to share a little bit about some of the thoughts that entered my head while reading your blogs, and also, I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your writings. I think it is commendable that you were able to dedicate the time to educate others with your experiences and knowledge and I hope you can continue again someday.
Dear Rick, You are thinking correctly about the Bible. We must remember that this document was written down no earlier than approximately 1,300 B.C.E. from the time of Gods transmission to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It was given to a group of people who were not scientists as we know today, most were farmers, shepherds and laborers, although Moses was educated. Did youo ever wonder why God sent the children of Israel to Egypt. Think about this scenario; a group of uneducated men and women were uprooted and sent to the center of the most culturally advanced society in the world at the time and then one man from them is sent into the educational processes of that society and taught how to value education. In short, God saw that it would take 400 years of captivity to re-educated a bunch of illiterate goat hearders into a people that wouold keep the wonderful revelations that God was about to give them. Yes they may have had to write them down in terms that were understandable to them, but that doesn't mean that they were wrong. We just have to be careful how we interpret those words in scientific terms. Roy
As regards the comment about the literal vs. the meaning behind the words, that is where we can learn from those who have been studying them the longest and that is the Jews. What did they regard as the interpretation of the words in both a literal and interpretative way. When you read much of the commentaries written by the Jews over the years you are astouonded at the depth and breadth or their insight. Whether or not it makes any sense to us is irrelevant as it made sense to them in their time period. When we look at they explanations about the Holy Spirit and Light for instance we are struck by how they equated God, the Messiah and the Holy Spirit as Light, in its creative aspect, its life sustaining aspect, and its regenerative aspect and how being in its presence is equated as being in the presence of God. There is much to try and understand about the scriptures and they speak to everyone in a different and profound way if we just but listen. Roy
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