![]() ![]() The chariot in which it ascends is (driven by) the blowing wind. First there goes out the great light whose name is the sun its roundness is like the roundness of the sky and it is totally filled with light and heat. There are many windows (both) to the right and the left of these openings. All of them (are arranged) one after another in a constant order. ![]() The moon also rises and sets through the same openings, and they are guided by the stars together with those whom they lead, they are six in the east and six in the west heaven. I saw six openings through which the sun rises and six openings through which it sets. This is the first commandment of the luminaries: The sun is a luminary whose egress is an opening of heaven, which is (located) in the direction of the east, and whose ingress is (another) opening of heaven, (located) in the west. This is explained in considerable detail in the Book of Enoch (the following is an excerpt): The Sun and Moon were thought to move in and out of the Firmament dome through a series of openings (reflecting the apparent movement of their rising and setting points throughout the year). The book of Genesis goes on to mention lights being placed in the firmament (Genesis 1:14-17):Īnd God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:Īnd let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth": and it was so.Īnd God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: the stars also. So slight is this elevation that birds may rise to it and fly along its expanse." To this vault are fastened the lights, the stars. Over this is arched the solid vault of heaven. "The Hebrews regarded the earth as a plain or a hill figured like a hemisphere, swimming on water. The Jewish Encyclopaedia describes the Firmament as follows: And the evening and the morning were the second day. God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.Īnd God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.Īnd God called the firmament Heaven. The word is mentioned in the Bible, in the course of the creation story of (Genesis 1:6–8): ![]()
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