"Fountains of the Deep" and "The Waters that are Above the Firmament"

"Vernon Jenkins" <vernon.jenkins@virgin.net> writes:
>But how do you reconcile that belief with the
>words of 7:11, "...all the fountains of the great deep were broken up..."?
>What is your understanding of this verse?

ED: Read the Babylonian Creation Epic, Enuma Elish, to learn the shape of
the cosmos in the ancient mind, which was envisaged as being surrounded by
"waters above" and also "waters below." The ancient writer of Genesis
certainly appears to have been echoing just such an ancient mythical view
of the cosmos when he referred to the fountains of the deep, and the
windows of heaven (that had to be shut after the first Flood).

As for "the waters above," what do you make of the fact that early Church
Fathers agreed the firmament was firm?

ìChurch Fathers like Origen called the firmament ëwithout doubt firm and
solidí (First Homily on Genesis, FC 71). Saint Ambrose, commenting on
Genesis 1:6, said, ëthe specific solidity of this exterior firmament is
meantí (Hexameron, FC 42.60). And Saint Augustine said the word firmament
was used ëto indicate not that it is motionless but that it is solid and
that it constitutes an impassable boundary between the waters above and
the waters belowí (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, ACW 41.1.61).î

What do you also make of the fact that Christians agreed with the early
church fathers right up till Martin Luther's day, that the firmament was
firm, and that waters lay driectly above it:
>
ìGod said, ëLet there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,í and God
made the firmament, and separated the waters which were below the
firmament from the waters which were above the firmament...Then God made
the two great lights...(and) the stars also. And God set them in the
firmament to light the earth.î
-- Genesis 1:7,16-17

ìPraise the Lord!...Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him stars of light!
Praise Him highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens!î
-- Psalm 148:1,3-4

ìScripture simply says that the moon, the sun, and the stars were placed
in the firmament of the heaven, below and above which heaven are the
waters...It is likely that the stars are fastened to the firmament like
globes of fire, to shed light at night...We Christians must be different
from the philosophers in the way we think about the causes of things. And
if some are beyond our comprehension like those before us concerning the
waters above the heavens, we must believe them rather than wickedly deny
them or presumptuously interpret them in conformity with our
understanding.î
-- Martin Luther, Lutherís Works. Vol. 1. Lectures on Genesis, ed.
Janoslaw Pelikan, Concordia Pub. House, St. Louis, Missouri, 1958, pp. 30,
42, 43.
Received on Thu Oct 28 01:14:19 2004