1:6 God said, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters,"

A Multidisciplinary Contextualized Analysis of Select Passages From Genesis V2.0

“…and let it divide the waters from the waters." ⁷God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. ⁸God called the expanse "sky." There was evening and there was morning, a second [era].

[This is an excerpt from an exhaustive personal study of most of the first 9 chapters of the book of Genesis. This is a vastly expanded effort from the original version that can currently be found here downloadable for free. The purpose of this exercise is to compare a non-symbolic literal reading of the text to our current understanding of language, paleontology, and the physical sciences. Constructive discussion on the merits of this study is encouraged!]

Approximate Year: 4,600 Ma

Historical Period: Hadean

Event: Earth forms

“Raqiya'” (רָקִ֖יעַ) which is typically translated as “Expanse” or “Firmament” is used nine times between Genesis 1:6-20 but nowhere else in the book. Each time, it seems to imply the area above the earth in which the stars and other celestial bodies reside. The term is used sparingly elsewhere in the Bible with Ezekiel describing visions that take place high above the earth and Daniel in an analogy of the multitude of stars.

What makes “Raqiya'” (רָקִ֖יעַ) interesting is its implication of an intentional structure. Outside of the bible, the term implies a solid or semi-solid structure beaten out, extended, or spread like a sheet. It may seem odd to describe something that even the ancient authors likely understood to be inherently empty, but it is notable that these structural vacuums needed to be defined between what matter was there.

God then named it “shamayim” (שָׁמַ֫יִם), a term used hundreds of times throughout the Bible with the interchangeable translations of heaven, sky, and air. Where “raqiya'” is more structurally descriptive, “shamayim” is informally everything that is above the earth. Whether the sky where birds fly or the location of Heaven itself, if it is off the ground it is in the “shamayim”.

Another place we find the term “Shamayim” (שָׁמַ֫יִם) is in Genesis 1:1. That headnote verse mentions that ,”God created the shamayim and the earth,” yet the term does not return until verse 8 after the “Raqiya'” is formed. This is further support of the 1:1 headnote theory since the “shamayim” is not extant until such time that he names it.

Within the last century, we have now come to understand that something as fundamental as light did not exist until the photon epoch. Collateral to this is the realization that the contents of the universe were homogeneously distributed. Much research is directed towards analyzing anisotropies or small variations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the gravitational wave background to determine how the universe transitioned from materially mixed to the state it is in now. That we have scientific hypotheses regarding how these properties came to be organically is not as interesting as the idea an eons old story would describe a lack of light and then a lack of open space at a time when the persistent existence of both would have been considered the norm.

Whether Genesis is from a series of visions or the author is seeking to be concise with what little detail is apparent to him, I expect the narrative skips ahead to the earliest form of planet earth. Following our earth-centric observational point, we are now at that point within the solar system. As the Earth formed within a protoplanetary nebula, "waters" seems like an appropriate description for what would seem like a "gathering" of dust, rocks, ice and other gaseous material. The “waters” under the expanse form the ground below the observer, and the “waters” above include what will become the moon, sun, and other features.

That no stars have been mentioned before this passage suggests that there is either a flaw in my interpretation, some poetic reordering of the days since the account was first given, or another reason that stars were not thought to be mentioned before their seemingly afterthought inclusion in Genesis 1:16b.

But if this account or these visions were focused on the pivotal moments in the formation of Earth as opposed to a continuum of cosmic evolution, then this may justify the seemingly late inclusion of additional stars. Our solar system’s accretion disk shrouded the early Earth in an opaque cloud of gas until the Sun main sequence ignition. Even with the Earth illuminated to some degree by starlight, it would be diffused through the thick dust making distinct celestial objects difficult to see.

Alternatively, if one’s preferred frame of reference were “space-centric”, during the cosmic dark ages, matter is collecting into nebulas that will form stars during the reionization period. The time compressed visual for this age would see the formation of the first stars and galaxies which would continue to reform in smaller and further separated clusters until we see the spheroid of our own earth gather from the accreditation disk. In a literal sense, an expanse is forming between the precipitated matter or "waters". This process of “separation” would continue from roughly 150 million to 550 million years from the beginning of the universe. Although I expect this would be difficult to envision for an ancient individual, in the 21st century, that interpretation might hold more meaning. I mention it here for that reason.