Genesis 1:6-8

1:6

“And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse (“raqia”) between the waters to separate water from water.’”

Hebrew Transliteration:

Vayomer Elohim yehi raqia betoch hamayim vyhi mavdil beyn mayim lamayim.

“God said, ‘There shall be a sky in the middle of the water, and it shall divide between water and water.”

“raqia” occurs 18 times in 15 verses in the OT:

1. Gen. 1:14
2. Gen. 1:20
3. Psalm 19:1

“raqia” is a noun that comes from the verb “raqa”.

“Raqa” means “to spread out”.

a) “Raqa” is used in Ps. 136:6; Isaiah 42:5 and 44:24 to describe the spreading out of the earth at creation and in Job 37:18 to the spreading out of the sky.

b) In Isaiah 40:19 it means to overlay or plate with gold.

c) “Raqia” is something that is created by spreading or stretching (like a tent) or by hammering (like a metal as in Exodus 39:3)

d) Proverbs 8:28 uses “raqa” with “sehaqim” (clouds)

“Raqia” is translated as “firmament”. It is called “sky” in 1:7 and refers to the atmosphere.

“beyn . . . . la” (“ben. . . la”) preposition “between” that occurs 30 in the OT.

In verse 1:7 the preposition “from” is “beyn. . . beyn” occurs 126 times.

The combination of “beyn. . . la” is used to point out the distinction between two non specific things such as “concept A” and “concept B”.

Once the waters are divided in 1:7 the combination of “beyn. . . beyn” is used. This is the combination used in the Bible to compare “man and wife”, father and daughter”, “Israel and Philistines.”

1:7

“So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so.

Hebrew Transliteration:

Vaya'as Elohim et-harakia vayavdel beyn hamayim asher mitachat larakia uveyn hamayim asher me'al larakia vayehi-chen.

1:8

“God called the expanse ‘sky.’ And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day.”

Hebrew Transliteration:

Vayikra Elohim la-rakia shamayim vayehi- erev vayehi- voker yom sheni.

“Called God expanse sky and there was evening and there was morning day three”

“sky” is “samayim”. This word is translated “heavens” in 1:1

Naming something shows authority and responsibility for the subject named.

God does not say “It was good.” Maybe because it will be used in the flood (Gen. 7:1)

2 Peter 3:5-7, 10

Benefits:

a) Creat a globally warm climate

b) Shield the planet fro harmful radiation

Results:

a) Uniform temperatures would not crate great air mass movements (wind)

b) With stable temperatures and no massive air movements there is no moving weather systems.

c) The world would be a global green house with uniform climate

d) Longer life span of man due the absorption and deflection of harmful radiation.

e) Longer life span of animals including reptiles which never stop growing through out their life

f) Plant life would be large size and extreme in its coverage of earth

g) A flood over this vegetation would result in a layer of coal

h) No rain would occur as in Gen. 2:5-6

i) Images of rainbows would not be created until canopy was gone.

j) If it ever collapsed the fallout would last for weeks maybe as long as 40 days

k) Seasons are not mentioned until after the flood indicating there were no seasons until after the flood (Gen. 8:22)

l) If it ever collapsed it would be impossible to repeat the resulting flood. God promises it will never happen again (Gen.8:21)

m) But, yet if the water is here on the surface of the earth, it could happen again, unless the formation of the mountains and the high lands occurred after the flood. Which did happen in Peleg’s day around the time of the tower of Babel. (Gen. 10:25)

i. Click here for video (average quality): http://www.samizdat.qc.ca/cosmos/origines/hydroplaques/load.htm

ii. Pictures and images of the Hydroplate theory Here: http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/HydroPlateTheory/index.html

iii. http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/ideas/gondwana2.html

iv. http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/HydroplateOverview2.html

v. Click the image at the bottom of this web site for video of the Flood and the Continental Plates: http://www.samizdat.qc.ca/cosmos/origines/hydroplaques/engl.htm#

n) The warmer, tropical world would explain the palm trees and vegetation that are found buried in Alaska and Antarctica.

i. Woolly mammoths frozen with grass in mouth at

1. http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar2000/953730757.Sh.r.html

2. http://www.zetatalk.com/info/tinfo26l.htm

ii. Antarctica and its tropical past

1. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Once-Antarctica-Was-Tropical-and-Attachhed-to-Europe-51095.shtml

2. http://www.wonderquest.com/dinosaur-shoe-sidesaddle.htm

3. http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~kpt/terraquest/va/science/geology/geology.html

Concerns from the skeptics:

a) A canopy would prevent the stars from being seen as they are in Gen. 1;14-18

b) Where did these waters recede to after Noah’s flood?

c) Gravity would bring the liquid water down

d) A canopy of 40 feet thick of liquid water would double the earth’s atmospheric pressure and kill animals and humans.

e) The same pressure would increase the temperature of the earth to 220 degrees Fahrenheit.

Web sites that disagree with the Water Vapor Canopy Theory:

http://www.lutheranscience.org/2003-VaporCanopyTheory1.html

http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth/canopy.html

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/canopy.html