De Moor VIII:25: The Second Day, Part 2

In this Firmament or Expanse, as afterwards the heavenly Luminaries were arranged, Genesis 1:14, so its use immediately was in the distinguishing of the Lower Waters, which were hitherto remaining mixed with the Earth, from the Upper.  Now, these Upper Waters are not the good Angels, as Origen maintained; just as concerning him EPIPHANIUS relates in his Epistle to John, Bishop of Jerusalem, that he said that the Waters, which are above the firmament, are not Waters, but certain powers of angelic strength:  and again that the waters that are upon the earth, that is, under the firmament, are contrary powers, that is, demons; see Epiphanius, opera, tome 2, page 315b.  This opinion of certain men of the Church, οἱ προφάσει ἀναγωγῆς καὶ νοημάτων ὑψηλοτέρων εἰς ἀλληγορίας κατέφυγον, who, upon pretense of sublimation and loftier conceptions, have had recourse to allegories, BASIL refutes, homily III in ἑξαήμερον, opera, tome I, pages 36, 37.  Neither are these Upper Waters some Aqueous or Crystalline Heaven, to which it would agree in perspicuity with Water, and the use of which would be to moisten and to cool the lower spheres, lest they burn up with excessive heat.  AUGUSTINE, in book II de Genesi ad litteram, chapter V, opera, tome 3, part 1, column 102, professes that the authority of this Scripture is greater than the capacity of all human genius; in chapter IV, he sets forth five reasons, whereby he attempts to show that it is possible, to hang Waters above the Starry Heaven; more specifically, whether the Waters be attenuated into vapors, which rarify exceedingly in the upper region of Heaven; or they be suspended above the Heavens in solidity after the manner of icy crystal, whence the Physicists would derive the cold of Saturn, the star closest to Heaven.  That icy solidity of the Waters above the Starry Sphere was so pleasing to the Scholastic Doctors, that it was nearly made an article of faith, after BEDE is first mentioned to have asserted this hypothesis with certainty:  see SCHOTANUS’ Bibliothecæ Sacræ, in the place cited, pages 22, 23.  Most Scholastics thus take it, according to GERHARD in his Locis Communibus.  But by the Upper Waters mentioned by Moses we do not generally understand certain Waters higher than the Stars, in favor of which opinion, nevertheless, CALOVIUS, on Genesis 1:7 in Bibliis Illustratis, page 227a, cites various of the Ancients:

Among whom THEODORET writes, Question XI in Genesi, opera, tome I, page 10:  Διχὴ δὲ διεῖλε τῶν ὑδάτων τὴν φύσιν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός·  καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄνωθεν ἐπιτέθεικα τῷ στερεώματι·  τὰ δὲ κάτω καταλέλοιπεν.  ἵνα τὰ μὲν ἄνωθεν ἐπικείμενα τῇ τε ὑγρότητι καὶ ψυχρότητι μὴ συγχωρῇ τῷ πυρὶ τῶν φωστήρων λωβᾶσθαι τὸ στερέωμα·  τὰ δὲ κάτω μεμενηκότα διατρέφῃ τοῖς ἀτμοῖς τὸν ἀέρα διαυαινόμενον καὶ ξηραινόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄνωθεν ἐπικειμένου πυρὸς, the God of all divided in two the substance of the waters:  and He placed some above the firmament; and the rest He left below:  so that those placed above in wetness and cold might not give way to the fire of the heavenly luminaries to damage the firmament:  but the things left below sustain by the vapors the atmosphere made transparent and dried by the fire placed above.

the most excellent Men from the order of the Papists, to whom almost all the Lutherans are added, indeed these so that they might render the Ascension of Christ into the Heavens all the more difficult.  But, that there is one and another of our Men differing from this opinion, is not mentioned by CALOVIUS in this place, which I discover he has at least affirmed of a truth concerning DANÆUS, in Danæus’ Physica Cristiana, part II, tractate II, chapters XIII, XIV, Opuscula, pages 284, 285; while you may see HOTTINGER remaining more doubtful in his Historia Creationis, question L, pages 79-86, whom you should consult.

We, with our AUTHOR and most of Our Men, by the Upper Waters understand Clouds; α.  Because above the Stars neither Scripture nor reason teaches there to be any waters.  β.  Because Clouds truly are Waters, which are wont to be evaporated by the force of daily heat, and are made more condensed again by the cool of the air, whence PLINY is observed to have called them Waters standing in heaven.  γ.  Because hence in Scripture they are also described and denominated in this way, Job 26:8; Proverbs 30:4; 2 Samuel 22:12; Psalm 104:3; Jeremiah 10:13.  δ.  Because these Waters are divided from the Lower Waters by the intervening atmosphere, Genesis 1:6, and are Upper with respect to their position, although originally they are also able to be called Lower, because they are drawn up from a lower position and carried up unto a great height:  but ‎המַּ֜יִם מִתַּ֤חַת הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙, the waters under the heavens, are mention in a stricter sense in verse 9, and do not include the Clouds, which are called the Upper Waters in a far more proper sense.  But, since Moses makes mention of Waters only of a twofold sort, neither are Clouds aptly referred to the Lower Waters; these will be the Upper Waters, of which Moses made mention.

Objection 1:  These Waters are not above the Expanse, but in it.  I Respond:  α.  with our AUTHOR, that they are not above the whole Expanse, but are nevertheless above part of it.  β.  That Moses does not teach this in Genesis 1, that the Upper Waters were lifted above the whole Expanse:  He does not gather them simply ‎עַל רָקִיעַ, upon/above the Expanse, but ‎מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ, from above in the Expanse, from the superiority of the Expanse, in the upper region of it.  γ.  But if you wish that ‎מֵעַל absolutely to denote upon/above, you will be able to compare verse 14, in which the Expanse is also mentioned in a simple way, when God says: יְהִ֤י מְאֹרֹת֙ בִּרְקִ֣יעַ הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם, let there be light in the firmament of the heavens:  however, only a certain part of the Expanse ought to be understood, since the heavenly Luminaries only occupy a some certain region of the Expanse:  but in a similar manner then are you able to explain that מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ, above the Expanse, with regard had, not to the whole height of the Expanse, but only to some certain part of it, which remains lower than the Clouds.

Objection 2:  Waters are placed above the Heaven, Psalm 148:4.  I Respond:  ‎וְ֜הַמַּ֗יִם אֲשֶׁ֤ר׀ מֵעַ֬ל הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃, and the waters that be above the heavens, α.  they are not thus said necessarily to be above all the visible Heavens, and thus also above the Starry Heaven.  If you should argue that the term שָׁמַיִם/heavens with a prefixed ה is to be taken so broadly and emphatically, I would say by the same right that the Heaven of Heavens at the beginning of the verse is to be taken of the third Heaven, and that the demonstrative ה sends us off to the Heavens mentioned immediately beforehand, and so these Waters are to be located, not only above the Starry Heaven, but also above the Third Heaven, which no one would maintain.  β.  Therefore, that prefixed ה either shall be without special emphasis, or shall denote a visible indication, as it were, of the Aerial Heaven, which we most immediately enjoy, of the Expanse, which God also called Heaven, with respect to the part of it nearest to us.  γ.  For, no more in this passage are ‎הַמַּיִם, the waters, simply said to be ‎עַל הַשָּׁמָיִם, upon/above the heavens, than in Genesis 1, above the Expanse; butמֵעַ֬ל הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃, from upon the heavens, in a manner similar as there, מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ, from the upper part of Heaven or this Heaven; that is, of that Heaven, in which God commanded the Waters to hang.  δ.  But thus also here the Psalmist shall indicate the Waters gathered in Clouds, which otherwise he would have omitted to mention in his very particular account of th Heavenly Bodies and Meteors.

Objection 3:  In that place, the Waters are distinguished from the Meteors.  I Respond:  α.  with out AUTHOR in his Medulla Theologiæ, that the Genus is well able to be denominated according to its various species.  β.  If you attend to the context and to that ‎מִן־הַשָּׁמַיִם, from the heavens, in verse 1, and to that ‎מִן־הָאָרֶץ, from the earth, in verse 7; it will be evident that the Fire and Hail and Snow in verse 8 are considered as descending from Heaven to the Earth, and the Vapor as ascending from the Earth to Heaven:  while, on the other hand, the heavenly Waters in verse 4 are considered as suspended in the Clouds of Heaven.

Objection 4:  Clouds are not able to be in Heaven, except by the Sun’s attraction, which was not yet created.  I Respond, α.  No consequence proceeds from the order of things that we see to be observed in nature now constituted, to nature to be constituted.  β.  The ordinary extraction of Waters is don by the help of Solar heat, but here an extraordinary extraction obtained by the power of God Himself.  Which, γ.  was no less able to gather Waters into Clouds, than to lift the same higher than the Stars.