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In article No.4 of this series we observed that the `firmament' or that which for the
time is `called heaven' (Gen. 1: 6) is the translation of the Hebrew raqia "thinness" or
"expansion". It is the verb raqa `to stretch out' that is employed of the earth in
Psa. 136: 6. Not only so, but Isaiah on two occasions uses the same verb in the same
context:
"He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth (raqa) the
earth" (Isa. 42: 5).
"That stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad (raqa) the earth by
Himself" (Isa. 44: 24).
Whatever meaning therefore we attach to the stretching out of the firmament over the
earth we must also attach to the stretching out of the earth over the waters.
This is not the only passage that speaks in this wise.
"The heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water"
(II Pet. 3: 5).
The Lord said to Job:
"Whereupon are the foundations fastened?" (Job 38: 6).
Here, as we have remarked earlier, the word `foundations' is the same as the word
`socket' used of the Tabernacle, and we now observe that the word translated `fastened'
is the Hebrew taba which means `to sink' as in mire (Psa. 69: 2, 14) or as when one is
`drowned' (Exod. 15: 4), and so most clearly visualizes the earth as stretched out over the
waters and anchored by some means to the earth beneath. This necessitates further
explanation. One might object to such a statement and say "How can the earth be
anchored to the earth?" but such an objection is not valid for it ignores an essential
principle of all interpretation, namely, to use terms according to any explanation that may
have been attached by authority or custom. Now just as the `firmament' was `called'
heaven, so the `dry land' that appeared above the waters on the third day is `called' by a
similar concession `earth' (Gen. 1: 10), but this is by no means commensurate with the
original `earth' of Gen. 1: 1. Just as the firmament is stretched out under the true
heaven, so the dry land is the earth that is stretched out over the waters. If the reader is at
all abreast of scientific discovery, he will know that these references to the stretching out
of the earth's crust upon the waters are a most wonderful evidence of their inspiration.
"For He hath formed it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods" (Psa. 24: 2).
Punch, which is a very sure index of contemporary thought, makes it very evident that
the possibility of the movement of the continents has so far become a matter of common
knowledge that it can form the basis of the following pleasantry.
From Punch, May 19, 1948.
Lost Touch
(A scientific expedition is hoping to establish the fact that