There’s some factors that I have never heard considered among Creation Scientists in this scenario. The details of the Genesis 1 Hebrew text give a lot more to chew on. Outer-space in Hebrew is called the ‘raqia’ [which is some kind of ‘invisible structure’ that holds each celestial body in a fixed location] . In Genesis 1:8 God named this raqia ‘Shamiym’ (Heavens). In Hebrew ‘shamiym means ‘lofty waters’. To add to this, in Hebrew there are plural words that have the value of two. The first one is found in Genesis 1:1: It’s the word we translate as ‘the Heavens’. In the Hebrew text it literally means ‘the-two-heavens’. Then you go down to verses 6-8, and there’s dual-plural words in those verses, the sum of which is that there are 2 bodies of water above outer-space and 2 bodies of water on the earth. Why would God want us to know that there are 2 bodies of water beyond the stars? What can we relate it to on earth? What comes to mind is whirlpools. Whirlpools in moving bodies of water have boundaries. With these thoughts in mind, consider the following:
First of all instead of thinking ‘horizontal water surface’ in verse 2, consider that the Holy Spirit is completely encasing a huge mass of water that is ‘pregnant’ with the whole universe. Presumably, the mass is in some kind of spherical shape, and the rate of the hovering action was faster than the original speed of light.
At that point in time the earth had an assigned location in the midst of the water, but it had no form and no sustenance… Kind of like a baby who has been given a name and whose life is all planned out, but that baby hasn’t been conceived yet. The earth had an assigned location in the midst of the waters, but nothing was there.
As the encased mass of water is being intensely vibrated by the Spirit of God, the next thing we read is God said, “Let there be light”, and then the whole thing lights up! Then the Spirit of God takes that whole mass of water and spins it in a complete circle in the amount of time as one 24 hour Sabbath. When water is spun, it moves outward, just like the water in a washing machine on spin cycle. It keeps going until it reaches a boundary.
At the end of the first 24 hour spin cycle God says “Let there be a raqia in the midst of the waters”. As mentioned before, in verse 7 of the Hebrew text He says that there are two waters above the raqia and two waters below the raqia [on the earth, see also verse 9]. Apparently the two waters above outer-space are the boundaries that hold the structure of the raqia intact. It could be similar to the way a river keeps a whirl pool spinning. If the river stops, the whirl-pool ceases to exist.¹
Back to the question of ‘light source’ for night and day: In the Hebrew text, the word for night in Hebrew is ‘lilah’ which means ‘to twist’. Also, in the Hebrew text, night always begins first. Because of this, at first I thought that the spin would have been caused by some sort of heat exchange, perhaps like the way a radiometer works, or that the Spirit of God placed Himself on one side of this mass of water. Does it not say that God dwells in unapproachable light?... and at that point in time the third heaven would have been just outside this mass of water. But there is more to consider;
What would happen if the surface of a ‘ball’ of water is pushed in and out from all sides at supersonic mega speed, besides lighting up? Would it automatically start spinning before it moved outward? It would depend on how much pressure was exerted at different points on the ‘ball’ of water.
Then on Day 2 (right after the first spin cycle) we see the ‘lofty waters’ flung out to form the raqia. It was at that time that God set the boundaries of outer-space with the two bodies of water beyond the raqia. At the same time, somewhere in the midst (center) of the ‘ball’ of water, the earth began to form from two distinct bodies of water which were below the raqia according to verse 9.
Footnotes: ¹[Later on in scripture we read that there will come a day when God rolls up the sky like a scroll. In order to do that do you suppose that He would cause the two waters beyond outer-space to stop moving?]
In the Hebrew text, the birds fly on the ‘face’ of the raqia (the 2 heavens), verse 20. The sun and the moon are in the raqia (the 2 heavens), verses 15-17.
If you want to see more details in the Hebrew text, you can find it in the ‘Brain Pickers’ section of the Women’s Resources On Creation Science web site. The title is ‘What does the Genesis 1 Hebrew Text look like?’ http://www.w-rocs.org/Brain%20Pickers%20Genesis%201.pdf
There's more to what the raquia was than what a typical modern-language translation might imply. Walter T. Brown suggested something radically different. My next post describes this in detail.
2 Comments
Submitted by Pam Elder on
There’s some factors that I have never heard considered among Creation Scientists in this scenario. The details of the Genesis 1 Hebrew text give a lot more to chew on. Outer-space in Hebrew is called the ‘raqia’ [which is some kind of ‘invisible structure’ that holds each celestial body in a fixed location] . In Genesis 1:8 God named this raqia ‘Shamiym’ (Heavens). In Hebrew ‘shamiym means ‘lofty waters’. To add to this, in Hebrew there are plural words that have the value of two. The first one is found in Genesis 1:1: It’s the word we translate as ‘the Heavens’. In the Hebrew text it literally means ‘the-two-heavens’. Then you go down to verses 6-8, and there’s dual-plural words in those verses, the sum of which is that there are 2 bodies of water above outer-space and 2 bodies of water on the earth. Why would God want us to know that there are 2 bodies of water beyond the stars? What can we relate it to on earth? What comes to mind is whirlpools. Whirlpools in moving bodies of water have boundaries. With these thoughts in mind, consider the following:
First of all instead of thinking ‘horizontal water surface’ in verse 2, consider that the Holy Spirit is completely encasing a huge mass of water that is ‘pregnant’ with the whole universe. Presumably, the mass is in some kind of spherical shape, and the rate of the hovering action was faster than the original speed of light.
At that point in time the earth had an assigned location in the midst of the water, but it had no form and no sustenance… Kind of like a baby who has been given a name and whose life is all planned out, but that baby hasn’t been conceived yet. The earth had an assigned location in the midst of the waters, but nothing was there.
As the encased mass of water is being intensely vibrated by the Spirit of God, the next thing we read is God said, “Let there be light”, and then the whole thing lights up! Then the Spirit of God takes that whole mass of water and spins it in a complete circle in the amount of time as one 24 hour Sabbath. When water is spun, it moves outward, just like the water in a washing machine on spin cycle. It keeps going until it reaches a boundary.
At the end of the first 24 hour spin cycle God says “Let there be a raqia in the midst of the waters”. As mentioned before, in verse 7 of the Hebrew text He says that there are two waters above the raqia and two waters below the raqia [on the earth, see also verse 9]. Apparently the two waters above outer-space are the boundaries that hold the structure of the raqia intact. It could be similar to the way a river keeps a whirl pool spinning. If the river stops, the whirl-pool ceases to exist.¹
Back to the question of ‘light source’ for night and day: In the Hebrew text, the word for night in Hebrew is ‘lilah’ which means ‘to twist’. Also, in the Hebrew text, night always begins first. Because of this, at first I thought that the spin would have been caused by some sort of heat exchange, perhaps like the way a radiometer works, or that the Spirit of God placed Himself on one side of this mass of water. Does it not say that God dwells in unapproachable light?... and at that point in time the third heaven would have been just outside this mass of water. But there is more to consider;
What would happen if the surface of a ‘ball’ of water is pushed in and out from all sides at supersonic mega speed, besides lighting up? Would it automatically start spinning before it moved outward? It would depend on how much pressure was exerted at different points on the ‘ball’ of water.
Then on Day 2 (right after the first spin cycle) we see the ‘lofty waters’ flung out to form the raqia. It was at that time that God set the boundaries of outer-space with the two bodies of water beyond the raqia. At the same time, somewhere in the midst (center) of the ‘ball’ of water, the earth began to form from two distinct bodies of water which were below the raqia according to verse 9.
Footnotes: ¹[Later on in scripture we read that there will come a day when God rolls up the sky like a scroll. In order to do that do you suppose that He would cause the two waters beyond outer-space to stop moving?]
In the Hebrew text, the birds fly on the ‘face’ of the raqia (the 2 heavens), verse 20. The sun and the moon are in the raqia (the 2 heavens), verses 15-17.
If you want to see more details in the Hebrew text, you can find it in the ‘Brain Pickers’ section of the Women’s Resources On Creation Science web site. The title is ‘What does the Genesis 1 Hebrew Text look like?’ http://www.w-rocs.org/Brain%20Pickers%20Genesis%201.pdf
Submitted by Terry Hurlbut (not verified) on
Thank you, Pam, for your thoughtful comment.
There's more to what the raquia was than what a typical modern-language translation might imply. Walter T. Brown suggested something radically different. My next post describes this in detail.