Is it impossible to think that their cultural understanding would have influenced how they were communicating what they felt God wanted to say?ДЄlso remember God had a target audience in mind, and while the Scriptures are useful to us, Genesis was forВ the people who lived, believed, and understood the image of the world above 3,500 years ago, first.Д«ut 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 GodвЂ™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?В Maybe it isnвЂ™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 itвЂ™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.ДЇirst, we must remember that whatever an all-knowing God inspired had to be understood and recorded by someone who was not all-knowing. вЂњThe rakia.вЂќ What holds the rakia up? The mountains or mountain-like things called the вЂњpillars of heaven.вЂќ So it must be up there! вЂњBut what holds the water up?,вЂќ 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 вЂњfirmament,вЂќ which includes a hint.

The Hebrew word behind вЂњexpanseвЂќ is ЧЁЦёЧ§ЦґЦ–Ч™ЧўЦ· (rakia, pronounced вЂњrah-KEE-ahвЂќ). 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. YouвЂ™re likely thinking of something similar to The Blue MarbleВ - a planet floating in a sea of black space.

Whats a firmament