Previous to the knowledge that the earth was moving in space, and that space is everywhere, theologians had installed the Trinity in the empyrean, the glorified body of Jesus, that of the Virgin Mary, the angelic hierarchy, the saints, and all the heavenly host. The Latin poets placed the divinities of Olympus and the stately mythological court upon this vault, above the planets and the fixed stars. The Greek astronomers represented it as formed of a solid crystal substance and so recently as Copernicus, a large number of astronomers thought it was as solid as plate-glass. Our ancestors imagined that this blue vault was really what the eye would lead them to believe it to be but, as Voltaire remarks, this is about as reasonable as if a silk-worm took his web for the limits of the universe. "And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.Whether the sky be clear or cloudy, it always seems to us to have the shape of an elliptic arch far from having the form of a circular arch, it always seems flattened and depressed above our heads, and gradually to become farther removed toward the horizon. "Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!" Psalm 148:4 ESV "He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved." Psalm 104:5 ESV And there was evening and there was morning, the second day." Genesis 1:6-8 ESV "And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. "Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?" Job 37:18 ESV And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years," Genesis 1:14 ESV "And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalm 19:1 ESV It was the support also of the heavenly bodies ( Genesis 1:14) and is spoken of as having "windows" and "doors" ( Genesis 7:11 Isaiah 24:18 Malachi 3:10) through which the rain and snow might descend. The raki'a supported the upper reservoir ( Psalms 148:4). It formed a division between the waters above and the waters below ( Genesis 1:7). It is plain that it was used to denote solidity as well as expansion. The language of Scripture is not scientific but popular, and hence we read of the sun rising and setting, and also here the use of this particular word. They who rendered raki'a by firmamentum regarded it as a solid body. This word means simply "expansion." It denotes the space or expanse like an arch appearing immediately above us. Merriam-Webster simply defines the firmament as “the vault or arch of the sky heavens.”Īccording to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, from the Vulgate firmamentum, which is used as the translation of the Hebrew raki'a, or raqia. The definition of the firmament can be essentially summarized as the arch or vault over the earth and sky that separates the earthly realm from what is beyond. And the evening and the morning were the second day ( Genesis 1:6-8). And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
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