Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers give his laws, and Deuteronomy gives the blessings and cursings.
Genesis and Exodus describe what God did for the people. You'll recognize all three parts in the Law of Moses. The third part gave the blessings and cursings for obedience or disobedience to the covenant. The second part described the suzerain's requirements for the people. The first part told what the suzerain, the king, had done for the people. God and the people of Israel both knew they were making a covenant, and God gave the Israelites a covenant in a legal form that was typical for their day.Ī suzerain covenant had three parts.
It's not an accident that they are called The Law, by the Jews. It's not an accident that Genesis through Deuteronomy is set up the way that it is. The Law, the first five books of the Bible, is a Suzerain Covenant. The truth concerning this issue is fascinating. The question is, what are we going to do about it? Are we going to stick our head in the sand and pretend we never heard it? Are we going to give up on our faith because Moses didn't know that stars were giant balls of gas producing heat and light by nuclear fusion anywhere from a few light years to tens of thousands of light years away? Are we going to give up on our faith because God didn't think it was worth revealing these advanced scientific ideas to Moses at a time when neither he nor anyone else would have understood them? Or will we set our panic and fear aside and look with open eyes at the truth and know that all Truth leads to Christ? My Strong's Concordance gives, as the first definition of raqiya, extended surface (solid). I'm sorry, but it's simply obvious from the context, from the definition of the word, and from Job 37:18, that the firmament in Genesis One is the solid vault of the heavens, a common belief in the Middle East during the time of the early Israelites. The word expanse, used to translate the Hebrew raqiya in many modern versions, is a copout. ∿irmament has firm in it for a reason. Why? Well, one of the main reasons is that is what the word firmament means. It is clear that Job 37:18 is stating that the sky is as hard as a metal mirror. The Holman Christian Standard Bible® renders this verse, ∼an you help God spread out the skies as hard as a cast metal mirror? The New American Standard Bible® has it, ∼an you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a molten mirror? Job is a very old book, and at that time mirrors were not made from glass but from metal that was poured out, then beaten flat and polished. The molten looking glass is a reference to a brass mirror. The word strong is the Hebrew chazaq, which can mean strong, but can also mean firm or hard. The phrase spread out there is the Hebrew raqa, which means to beat or hammer out. Hast thou with spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass? (Job 37:18) Like it or not, Genesis One says that the sun, moon, and stars are close, not millions of miles or many light years away.īefore I give you the definition of firmament from Strong's Concordance, let me give you a Bible verse that specifically says the sky is hard. The firmament, according to Genesis One, is a hard dome with the sun, moon, and stars in it, and the water is the storehouses of the rain, which are kept above the firmament. In fact, I believe that all Truth will inspire faith in believers. I do not believe that anything I'm about to tell you should reduce your faith.
I believe in God who created all things, and I believe that he inspired the Scriptures-all of them, including Genesis One.
I am glad, however, that it is me telling you this and not a skeptic who would use it to discourage your faith in God or the Scriptures. They are obviously and undeniably true, and anyone who says their not true is simply being willfully ignorant, not being spiritual or glorifying to God. I wish I could pretend, like so many others, that the things I'm telling you are not true. I wish I didn't have to write this chapter. 1:14-17), so these waters are above the sun, moon, and stars. In fact, we know that the sun, moon, and stars are in the firmament (Gen. What were these waters above and below the firmament? We know the firmament was the sky (Gen.