I havenāt read all 2,000 posts so forgive me if this has been said. I was at mass tonight at the maronite cathedral ( Lebanese ) and I followed the english translation on the projector screen and i have been thinking about it. No one knew there was eternal life with God until God revealed it to Moses. Therefore in genesis the reference to heaven must surely be to th efirmament we look up and see in the sky. So if the question is in relation to the heaven as the firmament the answer from me is - yes. But Iām sure it isnāt. just an observation.
From catholic encyclopedia
Firmament
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(Septuagint
stereoma;
Vulgate,
firmamentum). The notion that the sky was a vast solid
dome seems to have been common among the ancient peoples whose
ideas of
cosmology have come down to us. Thus the Egyptians conceived the heavens to be an arched iron ceiling from which the stars were suspended by means of cables (Chabas, LĆAntiquiteĆ historique, Paris, 1873, pp. 64-67). Likewise to the mind of the Babylonians the sky was an immense
dome, forged out of the hardest metal by the hand of Merodach (Marduk) and resting on a wall surrounding the earth (Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier,
Strasburg, 1890, pp. 253, 260). According to the notion prevalent among the Greeks and Romans, the sky was a great vault of crystal to which the fixed stars were attached, though by some it was held to be of iron or brass. That the Hebrews entertained similar
ideas appears from numerous biblical passages. In the first account of the creation (
Genesis 1) we read that
God created a firmament to divide the upper or celestial from the lower or terrestrial waters. The
Hebrew means something beaten or hammered out, and thus extended; the
Vulgate rendering, Ɠfirmamentumƶ corresponds more closely with the Greek
stereoma (
Septuagint,
Aquila, and Symmachus), Ɠsomething made firm or solidƶ. The notion of the solidity of the firmament is moreover expressed in such passages as
Job 37:18, where reference is made incidentally to the heavens, Ɠwhich are most strong, as if they were of molten brassƶ. The same is implied in the purpose attributed to
God in creating the firmament, viz. to serve as a wall of separation between the upper and lower of water, it being conceived as supporting a vast celestial reservoir; and also in the account of the deluge (
Genesis 7), where we read that the Ć“flood gates of
heaven were openedƶ, and shut upƶ (viii, 2). (Cf. also IV 28 sqq.) Other passages e.g.
Isaiah 42:5, emphasize rather the
idea of something extended: Ć“Thus saith the
Lord God that created the heavens and stretched them outƶ (Cf.
Isaiah 44:24, and
40:22). In conformity with these
ideas, the writer of
Genesis 1:14-20 represents
God as setting the stars in the firmament of
heaven, and the fowls are located beneath it, i.e. in the air as distinct from the firmament. On this point as on many others, the
Bible simply reflects the current
cosmological ideas and language of the time.
NancyGod Bless
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