course, perfectly clear that by the word _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ in the
preceding passage it is the atmosphere that is alluded to. But later on
in the chapter the word is used in a slightly different connection. "God
said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven."

As we look upward from the earth, we look through a twofold medium. Near
the earth we have our atmosphere; above that there is inter-stellar
space, void of anything, so far as we know, except the Ether. We are not
able to detect any line of demarcation where our atmosphere ends, and
the outer void begins. Both therefore are equally spoken of as "the
firmament"; and yet there is a difference between the two. The lower
supports the clouds; in the upper are set the two great lights and the
stars. The upper, therefore, is emphatically _reqi[=a]` hasshamayim_,
"the firmament of heaven," of the "uplifted." It is "in the face
of"--that is, "before," or "under the eyes of," "beneath,"--this higher
expanse that the fowls of the air fly to and fro.

The firmament, then, is that which Tennyson sings of as "the central
blue," the seeming vault of the sky, which we can consider as at any
height above us that we please. The clouds are above it in one sense;
yet in another, sun, moon and stars, which are clearly far higher than
the clouds, are set in it.

There is no question therefore as to what is referred to by the word
"firmament"; but there is a question as to the etymological meaning of
the word, and associated with that, a question as to how the Hebrews
themselves conceived of the celestial vault.

The word _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, translated "firmament," properly signifies "an
expanse," or "extension," something stretched or beaten out. The verb
from which this noun is derived is often used in Scripture, both as
referring to the heavens and in other connections. Thus in Job xxxvii.
18, the question is asked, "Canst thou with Him _spread out_ the sky,
which is strong as a molten mirror?" Eleazar, the priest, after the
rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram took the brazen censers of the
rebels, and they were "_made broad_ plates for a covering of the altar."
The goldsmith described by Isaiah as making an idol, "_spreadeth it
over_ with gold"; whilst Jeremiah says, "silver _spread_ into plates is
brought from Tarshish." Again, in Psalm cxxxvi., in the account of
creation we have the same word used with reference to the earth, "To him
that _stretched out_ the earth above the wa