Now I'm not well read on Greek and Hebrew but I'm curious what you think about this quote from this article:
The word “firmamentum” in Latin originally meant “sky.” Yes, as a verb it also meant “to support” or “to uphold,” and sometimes even that verb meaning was used as a noun to mean “a support,” but here’s the thing. Words only ever mean one thing at a time, depending on how they are used (usage) and the context they appear in (context). When English speakers of old referred to that thing above us with the term “firmament,” they were using one definition of it at a time, the single one they were using according to what they meant by what they said (intent of the author) and according to what everyone else at the time understood it to mean (context and usage). So, as a noun, “firmamentum” meant “sky.” “Sky” is the English
translation of the Latin “firmamentum,” whereas “firmament” is the English
transliteration of the Latin firmamentum
Too often, Christians think in terms of surface, rather than substance. If we could move beyond the surface to the real thing, the real issue underneath, then our discussions would be much more fruitful, and we wouldn’t talk past each other so much. When you say something enough times, and you hear
thecultishshow.com
The Latin word “firmamentum” expresses the concept of the sky
as a strong supporting structure and is used in Genesis 1:6 and elsewhere to translate the Hebrew word רָקִיעַ that expresses the concept of the solid dome over the flat earth. On page 21 of his commentary on Genesis, the late John Skinner, Principal and Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, Westminster College, Cambridge, writes,
6-8 Second Work: The Firmament.—The second fiat calls into existence a firmament, whose function is to divide the primeval waters into an upper and lower ocean, leaving a space between as the theater of further creative developments. The “firmament” is the dome of heaven, which to the ancients was no optical illusion, but a material structure, sometimes compared to an “upper chamber” (Ps. 104:12, Am 9:6) supported by “pillars” (Jb 26:11), and resembling in its surface a “molten mirror” (Jb 37:18). Above this are the heavenly waters, from which the rain descends through “windows” or “doors” (Gn 7:11, 8:2, 2 Ki 7:2, 19) opened and shut by God at His pleasure (Ps 78:23).
However, hundreds of years earlier, the first five books of the Tanakh were translated into Greek giving us the first part of the Septuagint. In the Septuagint, Genesis 1:6-8 reads,
Gen. 1:6. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός γενηθήτω στερέωμα ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἔστω διαχωρίζον ἀνὰ μέσον ὕδατος καὶ ὕδατος. καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως.
7. καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα, καὶ διεχώρισεν ὁ θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος, ὃ ἦν ὑποκάτω τοῦ στερεώματος, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ἐπάνω τοῦ στερεώματος.
8. καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα οὐρανόν. καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι καλόν. καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωί, ἡμέρα δευτέρα.
The Greek word στερέωμα is used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word רָקִיעַ, and expresses the concept of “the sky as a supporting structure, the firmament.” (BDAG, the italics are theirs). This Greek word is also found in Paul’s writings to express the concept of a “state or condition of firm commitment, firmness, steadfastness” (BDAG, the italics are theirs),
Col. 2.5. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ ἄπειμι, ἀλλὰ τῷ πνεύματι σὺν ὑμῖν εἰμι, χαίρων καὶ βλέπων ὑμῶν τὴν τάξιν καὶ τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ὑμῶν. (NA28)
Col. 2.5. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ. (NRSV)
The Greek word στερέωμα is also found in a number of other ancient Greek writings where it always expresses the concepts of something solid, strength, firmness or steadfastness. Indeed, all hands (even the folks at Answers in Genesis!) freely admit that this Greek word expresses in Genesis the concept of a ‘solid, supporting structure.’
The Septuagint was the Bible of the Early Church until it was superseded by the Latin Vulgate. Therefore, arguing that the word firmamentum in the Latin Vulgate is misunderstood by people who believe that the earth is old is an attempt to deceive people who honestly desire to learn the truth. And, of course, what really matters is the choice of words used by the writers who penned the Tanakh—they used the Hebrew word רָקִיעַ that expresses the concept of the solid dome over the flat earth. For an excellent study of the first eleven chapters of Genesis as they were given to us in the Hebrew language, please see the following:
Westermann, Clause. Genesis 1 - 11, German orig. 1972 (English translation by John J. Scullion, 1984 in the Continental Commentaries series, 636 pages).
