"
"God called the firmament Heaven."
And there is one word which has not been used before: "And God made the
firmament."
It is quite simple to see this, but I daresay you want to know, as all the
children--even the elder ones--did, the meaning of one very uncommon word
which we find in each of these verses. "What does 'firmament' mean?" they
said.
I told them that the word conveys the idea of something firm and strong and
steadfast; and then I asked Sharley, who has a reference Bible, to look in
the margin, and tell me what word she could find there which might be used
instead of this uncommon one. She found, as you will find if there are
references in your Bible, that the word is there translated "expansion."
And what does that mean?
You can understand something spread out wide, can you not?
Those who turned the Hebrew word into English long ago thought
"firmament"--that which stands fast--was a better word than "expansion,"
which simply means what is stretched or spread out--as the heaven is spread
above the earth "like a curtain." The expanse, then, which God made on the
SECOND DAY, is what we call, the sky, as we look up and see the
"... tapestried tent
Of that marvellous curtain of blue and gold,"
which is high above our heads, and stretches away far, far as our eyes
can reach. And this tent, under whose shadow we dwell, is not firm and
solid, but is really a globe of vapour, which surrounds us everywhere, and
reaches, not all the way up to what we call the blue sky, but very much
higher than any bird could fly or balloon float--as high as forty or fifty
miles above the earth.
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