The work of the Second Day was the רָקִיעַ/Expanse, from רָקַע, to spread out, to extend, as it is compared to a Canopy or Curtain, Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22. Concerning this Expanse our AUTHOR with consummate prudence says with brevity all that is able to be affirmed concerning it, writing: It is that Visible and Translucent Space, which is stretched out in every direction between the Earth and the Supreme Heaven, and goes by the name of the Aerial and Starry Heaven. It is Visible with respect to that superior part, in which we see the Stars placed and positioned, and also with respect to the Clouds, which are suspended in the midst of this Expanse. It is Translucent, especially with respect to the Aerial parts, which occupy the more intermediate place. We call that Heaven, with God going before us, Genesis 1:8, who thus willed to share the name of the supreme part of the Universe with the separated upper part of the inferior Mass or terraqueous Globe, which most aptly agrees with the signification of Height in the name שָׁמַיִם/Heavens;[1] with the name אֶרֶץ/ Earth thus left to the inferior part of the World, which is lower, whether it is indicated specifically as Dry Ground, or Dry Ground together with the Seas. But, that the upper part of the terraqueous Globe separated from that I would call this Expanse, is indicated by those things that have already been disputed in § 24: and it certainly deserves attention, that God is not expressly said to have created this Expanse by the word בָּרָא, to create, but by the word עָשָׂה, to make, which is general, and is also quite frequently employed concerning Creation; but in any event thus no appeal is able to be made to the emphasis of the term בָּרָא, to create, as if this would necessarily imply the Creation of this Expanse out of Nothing, Genesis 1:7, וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֘ אֶת־הָרָקִיעַ֒, and God made the Firmament/Expanse. With respect to its Lower part or its Upper part this Expanse is again called either the Aerial Heaven, in which are Birds and Clouds, Genesis 1:20, 7; or the Starry Heaen, in which are the Stars, according to Genesis 1:14, 15, 17, concerning the immense Height and distance from our earth the Physicists are able to be consulted. The Greeks translated רָקִיעַ as στερέωμα, which the Vulgate expressed by Firmamentum, from στερεόω, to be firm, to make solid and firm, στερεὸς/ solid/firm in its primary form: just as רָקַע, to spread out, to extend, used by the Sacred Writers concerning te extension of Heaven and the Earth in Creation, the Septuagint translators render as στερεῶ, to be firm, Isaiah 44:24;[2] Psalm 136:6;[3] Job 37:18;[4] to which passages CHRISTIAN SCHOTANUS was nevertheless not obliged to reckon Isaiah 40:22,[5] Diatribe I de Mosaico Mundo, Bibliothecæ Sacræ, tome I, page 23. It is right, what he observes in that place, that the verb נַעֲשׂוּ, they were made, used of the Heavens in Psalm 33:6, was also translated by them relatively to this noun στερέωμα/firmament by ἐστερεώθησαν, they were made firm. Thus, the the Septuagint translators in the Expanse had regard chiefly to the Starry Heaven, which they called στερέωμα/firmament from the opinion of its solidity, which these Interpreters held, being imbued with the tenets of Platonic philosophy, SCHOTANUS, just now cited, observes, in the same passage just now cited.
THEODORET, Question XI in Genesi, opera, tome I, page 10, concerning the noun στερέωμα/firmament says: Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς ῥοώδους τῶν ὑδάτων οὐσίας συνέστη, καὶ ἡ ῥυτὴ φύσις στεγανωτάτη γέγονε καὶ στερέμνιος, προσηγορεύθη στερέωμα. εἴτα ὡς ἄνωθεν ἐπικείμενος, καὶ τοῦ προτέρου οὐρανοῦ τὴν χρείαν ἡμῖν πληρῶν, οὐρανὸς προσωνομάσθη, For, after the rushing nature of the waters had been given some solidity, and the flowing quality had become water-tight and firm, the firmament is addressed: then, as hung from above, and filling for us the necessary place of the former heaven, it was called heaven.
While, nevertheless, 1. the verb רָקַע, to spread out, whence רָקִיעַ, in its derivate involves the notion, not so much of firmness or solidity, as of Expansion: and, 2. they had been obliged to observe, that the noun רָקִיעַ is not only applicable to that lofty embroidered Canopy, which, adorned with so many stars, we see extended unto breadth: but expresses all that space extended unto height, which is between Earth and the Supreme Heaven, and which is filled with Air, which, as it is nearer to our Earth and mixed with its thicker exhalations, is denser and more congealed; as it rises higher, it escapes purer and finer: although it is certain, that the noun רָקִיעַ is used sometimes of the lower part of the Expanse, sometimes of the higher, and especially also of that Visible Space, in which the Stars are located. 3. But who might say, of what substance that Starry Expanse might properly be? Not only does DESCARTES hesitate here in his fluid eddies: SCHOTANUS pronounces its Matter airy, denying another solid, in the passage cited, pages 23, 24. MARESIUS also believes it fluid, Systemate Theologico, locus V, § 22; JOHANNES REGIUS,[6] Principiis Philosophiæ theoreticæ, chapter XIV, § 4, chapter XVIII, § 2; BARTHOLOMEUS VAN VELSEN, Philosophicis Scripturis, chapter XVII, § 141, tome 2, page 911. DANIEL VOET,[7] Physiologia, book III, chapter II, asserts in § 3, that on the matter placed between the Stars, it, if it be considered in itself, is not so much mixed as simple: for it is nothing other than Air. In § 4, Yet there is this difference between our Air and this substance, that the latter is much finer, rarer, thinner, and clearer, than the Air surrounding us; even also remoted from us by some distance above the clouds. In § 5, This substance is fluid, not solid. According to WOLFERD SENGUERDIUS,[8] Philosophia naturali, part II, chapter III, § 3, 4, 6, 7, Heaven, or the matter that besides the Stars is found in the supralunary place and is set between the same, is composed of many very subtle particles, which because of their incredible subtlety are exceedingly fine and very mobile; whence also fluidity is applicable to the heavenly material, consisting in the various motions of the subtle particles. And the motion of the heavenly stars in this region appears to make for its matter being airy or more fluid, in opposition to something more solid and less mobile. On the other hand, NEWTON asserts that the fluidity of this Starry Heaven is incompatible with all astronomical phenomena; and he, with HUYGENS,[9] DECHALES,[10] and KEPLER, thinks that the matter of the Firmament is solid: of which opinion the principal foundation, besides other experiments, is this, that the distance of the Stars from each other is observed to remain all but the same, and not to undergo mutation through so many ages, which is believed to agree with a solid body, in which they would be located, more than with a fluid body. Why should we not confess with the Most Distinguished NIEUWENTYT, Contemplation XXV of his Cosmotheoriæ, § 71, that in what manner that ample Starry Heaven abides in its own internal constitution, remains an obscure enigma to the present day even to the greatest Astronomers. The saying of Elihu in Job 37:18 is certainly advanced in favor of the solid matter of the Starry Heaven; see NIEUWENTYT in the place cited, § 71, 72: but this proof is not apodictic, says MARESIUS, Systemate Theologico, locus V, § 20, note a. Which BARTHOLOMEUS VAN VELSEN also observes in the place just now cited, who thinks that the epithet חֲזָקִים/strong here is able to be referred to the stable duration of the שְׁחָקִים/sky/clouds, and it is similar to a molten looking glass for the clarity and perspicuity of the Heavens; so that attention is given to the use and qualities of a looking glass, more than to the copper material whence they were wont of old to be fabricated. Not in a dissimilar way does MARESIUS in the passage cited, § 22, note c, have, That simile from a copper looking glass, Job 37:18, has regard, not so much to solidity or density, but to smoothness and splendor. But so also the Most Illustrious SCHULTENS in his Commentario[11] on this passage: “To think here, that the firmament and the heavenly spheres are composed of solid material, according to the opinion of the Ancients, is beyond the scope; since the oration of Elihu is figurative; and he does not teach what the matter of the ether or firmament is, but only depicts the appearance of the Heavens, simultaneously brilliantly bright and altogether firm, when fair weather long holds, conveying to the eyes an aerial vault, as it were, suffused with flashes of gold.”
[1] שׁמה signifies to be high or lofty.
[2] Isaiah 44:24: “Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad (רֹקַע; ἐστερέωσα, in the Septuagint) the earth by myself…”
[3] Psalm 136:6: “To him that stretched out (לְרֹקַע; τῷ στερεώσαντι, in the Septuagint) the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
[4] Job 37:18: “Hast thou spread out (תַּרְקִיעַ; στερεώσεις, in the Septuagint) the sky with him, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?”
[5] Isaiah 40:22: “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in (הַיֹּשֵׁב֙ עַל־ח֣וּג הָאָ֔רֶץ וְיֹשְׁבֶ֖יהָ כַּחֲגָבִ֑ים הַנּוֹטֶ֤ה כַדֹּק֙ שָׁמַ֔יִם וַיִּמְתָּחֵ֥ם כָּאֹ֖הֶל לָשָֽׁבֶת׃)…”
[6] Johannes Regius (1656-1738) served as Professor of Philosophy at Franeker (1685-1738).
[7] Daniel Voet (1630-1660) was a Dutch Philosopher, teaching logic and metaphysics at Utrecht.
[8] Wolferd Senguerdius (1646-1724) was a Dutch Philosopher; he served as Professor of Philosophy at Leiden.
[9] Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, a key figure in the Scientific Revolution.
[10] Claude Francois Milliet Dechales (1621-1678) was a French Jesuit priest and mathematician. He taught hydrography at Marseille.
[11] Liber Jobi cum nova versione ad hebræum fontem et commentario perpetuo.
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