Day Two The second day has to do with the creation of the firmament. The primitive concept

Day Two                                                                 
                                                                        
    The second day has to do with the creation of the firmament. The    
primitive concept involved in the word "firmament" is: "beaten out,     
stamped (as of metal), suggesting a thin sheet stretched out to form,   
the vault of the sky" (Speiser, 1964, p 6). Liberals take pleasure in   
pointing this out as an indication of the Hebrews' "pre-scientific view 
of the universe" (Murray and Buffaloe, 1981, p 10). This view, it is    
alleged, involves a belief that the sky was a solid structure which     
rested upon the mountains. This notion is based upon the very           
troublesome assumption that the word "firmament" was intended (by       
Moses) to convey the meaning the liberals have assigned to it; but the  
Hebrew word may be better translated "expanse" (Wilson, p 166). In his  
typically concise way, W.E. Vine stresses:                              
                                                                        
    While this English word is derived from the Latin                   
    `firmamentum' which signifies firmness or strengthening             
    ...the Hebrew word, `raqia', has no such meaning, but               
    denoted the "expanse," that which is stretched out.                 
    Certainly the sky was not regarded a s a hard vault in              
    which the heavenly orbs were fixed.... There is therefore           
    nothing in the language of the original to suggest that             
    the writers [of the Old Testament---BTB] were influenced            
    by the imaginative ideas of heathen nations (1981, p 67).           
                                                                        
    Moses elaborates by stating one of the functions of the firmament.  
It was intended to serve as a divider between the atmospheric and the   
terrestrial waters. Here too, the liberals suppose they have grist for  
their mills. In their minds, Genesis reads like a pagan myth. Murray    
and Buffaloe allege: "The Genesis account explains that there is a vast 
reservoir of water collected above the dome (`firmament'), which of     
course is how ancient peoples accounted for rainfall" (p 10). The       
question must be raised as to where Genesis "explains" anything         
concerning a "vast reservoir of water." The text simply states that a   
division was accomplished between the waters above and below the sky    
(firmament).  Water vapor is an important component of the atmosphere,  
and there is nothing in Moses' words to suggest that he necessarily had 
reference to any more than that. Some scholars have suggested that a    
canopy of water vapor enveloped the antediluvian world and caused a     
globally temperate climate to prevail (e.g., Bixler, 1986). While the   
Vapor Canopy Theory is not inconsistent with the phrase "waters above," 
other passages would have to be considered in order to support the      
theory. With these acts of creation finished, evening falls and morning 
returns---completing day two.