Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/124

 is widely diffused; it is perhaps embodied in our word 'heaven' (from heave?) and O.E. 'lift.' A graphic illustration of it is found in Egyptian pictures, where the god Shu is seen holding aloft, with outstretched arms, the dark star-spangled figure of the heaven-goddess, while the earth-god lies prostrate beneath (see Je. ATLO$2$, 7). But the special form in which it appears here is perhaps not fully intelligible apart from the Bab. creation-myth, and the climatic phenomena on which it is based (see below, p. 46).

Another interpretation of the firmament has recently been propounded (Winckler, Himmels- u. Weltenbild, 25 ff.; ATLO$2$, 164, 174) which identifies it with the Bab. šupuk šamē, and explains both of the Zodiac. The view seems based on the highly artificial Bab. theory of a point-for-point correspondence between heaven and earth, according to which the Zodiac represents a heavenly earth, the northern heavens a heavenly heaven (atmospheric), and the southern a heavenly ocean. But whatever be the truth about šupuk šamē, such a restriction of the meaning of is inadmissible in Heb. In Ps. 19$2$, Dn. 12$3$ it might be possible; but even there it is unnecessary, and in almost every other case it is absolutely excluded. It is so emphatically in this chapter, where the firmament is named heaven, and birds (whose flight is not restricted to 10° on either side of the ecliptic) are said to fly 'in front of the firmament.'

9, 10. Third work: Dry land and sea.—The shoreless lower ocean, which remained at the close of the second

(trans.), 'stamp firm,' 'consolidate' (Is. 42$5$ etc.). It is curious that the vb. is used of the creation of the earth, never of heaven, except Jb. 37$18$.—] on ptcp. expressing permanence, see Dri. T. § 135, 5.—: Kön. S. § 319 n.—] G supplies as subj. 🇬🇷.—7. ] transposed in G to end of v.$6$, its normal position,—if indeed it be not a gloss in both places (We.).—8. G also inserts here the formula of approval: on its omission in Heb., see above, pp. 8, 9.

9. ] in this sense, only Jer. 3$17$. For read with G  = 'gathering-place,' as in v.$10$. Nestle (MM, 3) needlessly suggests for the latter, and for , .—] not 'from under' but simply 'under' (see v.$10$); G-K. § 119 c$2$.—] juss. unapocopated, as often near the principal pause; G-K. § 109 a.—At the end of the v. G adds: 🇬🇷: i.e.. The addition is adopted by Ball, and the pl. 🇬🇷 proves at least that it rests on a Heb. original, 🇬🇷 being sing. in Greek (We.).—10. ] the pl. (cf.