And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.”
This expanse or stretched-out curtain is the air itself, divided into regions from earth to the third heaven, wherein fowls fly and stars are set. The word denotes both the firmness and extent of what God made, firm and lasting, reaching from earth through all the atmosphere and ether where light and heavenly bodies dwell.
AI summary
The atmosphere draws up the lighter waters from the earth's surface and suspends them in the visible heavens while the heavier mass remains below. By this single creative act, air stands in the midst of the waters and separates them, fulfilling the only use Scripture mentions.
AI summary
Commenting on Genesis 1:6-8
The firmament stretches out as a wall of separation through the chaotic waters, dividing upper from lower. Those above are not ethereal waters beyond the atmosphere but the waters that gather in clouds and pour down as rain when the windows of heaven open.
AI summary
Commenting on Genesis 1:6-8