Is it impossible to think that their cultural understanding would have influenced how they were communicating what they felt God wanted to say?Īlso remember God had a target audience in mind, and while the Scriptures are useful to us, Genesis was for the people who lived, believed, and understood the image of the world above 3,500 years ago, first.īut what was God trying to communicate, after all? Could it be that as 21st century humans in any part of the world, we are simply not equipped to perfectly understand God’s original intent 3,500 years ago? Could it be that the Bible isn't trying to tell us what we think or expect it's trying to tell us? Maybe it isn’t trying to tell you about the cosmology of the universe or world. Now, in our modern 21st century thinking, we try to reconcile what the Bible says with what we know of the world, which is good! But I think it’s presumptuous and errant to think that if the work of reconciliation is difficult or not immediately and obviously easy, that means the Bible is flawed.įirst, we must remember that whatever an all-knowing God inspired had to be understood and recorded by someone who was not all-knowing. “The rakia.” What holds the rakia up? The mountains or mountain-like things called the “pillars of heaven.” So it must be up there! “But what holds the water up?,” an ancient Hebrew child may ask. Why would they think that? Not only is the sky blue, but also sometimes, water comes down. In the ancient Hebrew thinking, the sky was blue because water was up there. Tyndale is trying to tell you in the Hebrew mind, the rakia is a solid - a firm dome, like a shield, over the sky. When William Tyndale originally gave us an English word for this, he rendered it “firmament,” which includes a hint. The Hebrew word behind “expanse” is רָקִ֖יעַ (rakia, pronounced “rah-KEE-ah”).
But 3,000 years ago, with no photo, this is what you believed: Remarkably, this image has only been possible for the last 50 years or so, since it was taken December 7, 1972. You’re likely thinking of something similar to The Blue Marble - a planet floating in a sea of black space.
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