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Refuting the Solid Dome Sky Idea

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Both misotheists and liberal scholars who profess to be Christians saddle up and ride together, attacking the Genesis narrative. (As I have said before, if Christians receive support and applause from enemies of God, that should prompt self-examination about their faith.) In this case, the hard sky.

These tinhorns figure that the ancient Hebrews had a view of the universe similar to their pagan neighbors, and it was apparent in the Bible. A many things are implicit in this accusation. It can also be considered poisoning the well.

Misotheists and liberal professing Christians accuse ancient Hebrews of believing in a solid dome sky. The many problems with this are easily refuted.
Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe (misrepresentation, modified), WikiComm / Tom-L (CC BY 4.0)
Obviously, materialists reject the inerrancy and authority of the Bible, but so do many liberal Christians. One "error" is the sky vault dome shell thing. If the Hebrews had hairbrained views of cosmology, why should we believe Genesis when it says "windows of heaven?" For that matter, the Lexham English Bible refers to a solid dome. Bible translators don't do themselves any favors, and the LEB is a minority because "expanse" is more common. Some use "firmament" (see "Genesis and the Waters Above"). Interestingly, Flat Earthers also believe in a solid dome sky.

No, the Hebrews didn't think that rain came from openings in the domed sky, they knew that it came from clouds. (In fact, the hydrological cycle was mentioned in the Bible before it became a scientific principle centuries later.) The Bible uses figurative and phenomenological language throughout, and it seems mighty strange that anti-creationists focus on those words — and informed biblical creationists do not hold to the solid dome view.

If these critics were consistent, they should have problems with song lyrics, since hearts break, blood is hot, stars fall, and so on. Cut us some slack, Jack! Forcing the Hebrews (and us) to believe that the Flood involved windows in a solid dome is outrageous, and is thoroughly refuted.
The phrase ‘windows of heaven’ (or ‘windows in heaven’) is used six times in Scripture (Genesis 7:11; 8:2; 2 Kings 7:2,19; Isaiah 24:18; Malachi 3:10). Many scholars insist that the biblical authors believed these ‘windows’ to be literal openings in a solid sky, based on a prescientific cosmology they allege the Israelites to have held. Eleven principles drawn from Scripture are proposed and defended to show that these windows were not meant to refer to literal openings but were intended as metaphors for the regulation of heavenly provisions, including rain from clouds.

To read the rest, visit "The ‘windows of heaven’ are figurative: Reading a ‘solid sky’ into a biblical metaphor is a big mistake."