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(Septuagintstereoma;Vulgate,firmamentum).
The notion that the sky was a vast soliddome seems to have been common among the ancient peoples whoseideas ofcosmology have come down to us. Thus the Egyptians conceived the heavens to be an arched iron ceiling from which the stars were suspended by means of cables (Chabas, LÆAntiquiteÆ historique, Paris, 1873, pp. 64-67). Likewise to the mind of the Babylonians the sky was an immensedome, forged out of the hardest metal by the hand of Merodach (Marduk) and resting on a wall surrounding the earth (Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier,Strasburg, 1890, pp. 253, 260). According to the notion prevalent among the Greeks and Romans, the sky was a great vault of crystal to which the fixed stars were attached, though by some it was held to be of iron or brass. That the Hebrews entertained similarideas appears from numerous biblical passages. In the first account of the creation (Genesis 1) we read thatGod created a firmament to divide the upper or celestial from the lower or terrestrial waters. TheHebrew means something beaten or hammered out, and thus extended; theVulgate rendering, ôfirmamentumö corresponds more closely with the Greekstereoma (Septuagint,Aquila, and Symmachus), ôsomething made firm or solidö. The notion of the solidity of the firmament is moreover expressed in such passages asJob 37:18, where reference is made incidentally to the heavens, ôwhich are most strong, as if they were of molten brassö. The same is implied in the purpose attributed toGod in creating the firmament, viz. to serve as a wall of separation between the upper and lower of water, it being conceived as supporting a vast celestial reservoir; and also in the account of the deluge (Genesis 7), where we read that the ôflood gates ofheaven were openedö, and shut upö (viii, 2). (Cf. also IV 28 sqq.) Other passages e.g.Isaiah 42:5, emphasize rather theidea of something extended: ôThus saith theLord God that created the heavens and stretched them outö (Cf.Isaiah 44:24, and40:22). In conformity with theseideas, the writer ofGenesis 1:14-20 representsGod as setting the stars in the firmament ofheaven, and the fowls are located beneath it, i.e. in the air as distinct from the firmament. On this point as on many others, theBible simply reflects the currentcosmologicalideas and language of the time.
LeseÆtre in Vig., Dict. de la Bible, s.v.: Whitehouse in Hastings, Dict. of the Bible. s.v. Cosmogony, I, 502.
APA citation.Driscoll, J.F.(1909).Firmament. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06079b.htm
MLA citation.Driscoll, James F."Firmament."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 6.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1909.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06079b.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by William J. Rosini.In memory of Dorothy and Evoldo Rosini.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor.Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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