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heavens-, though these noims unply somethings firm and solid . Hence , too * the epithets xoftjcoGarifis , k $ &tccios 4 are used by Hofaaer and other poets , to characterize the heavens . Moses , on em
the other hand , h ^ s ployed ra term which denotes mere expansion x > r extension ; and this . circumstance shews , either that he was untainted with the
vain theories , of the- Egyptians , or , which is more pi ' obabie ^ that he lived in an age antecedent to them . The seventy translators thought it wiser to follow the ^ Egyptians than their
Lawgiver in this respect . - They wrote their translation in Egypt , $ nd , in conformity to the prejudices of that people , used s- £ g £ v ( A . a which signifies a solid mass . This warrants us in
concluding , that the system , which m after days was taught by Ptolemy , prevailed ¦ in Egypt before the authors of the Septuagint . " Mr . Belsham further imputes to Moses the puerile notion that a reservoir of water exists in the heavens ,
supported by tke firmament as a solid arch , and that from this celestial reservoir are dispensed the rain and the dew . The Jewish Lawgiver well understood , as appears from his own words , that rain and dew are caused by ^ evaporation from the ground . " Before this , " says he , " no plant of the field existed ; no herb of the field grew : for the- Lord God caused no showers to descend , but thick vapours issued from the ground , and drenched the whole surface of the earth . "
The verse on which Mr . Belsham ' s misconception is founded , is thus rendered in Essenus : ** Aad God said , Let there be an expanse amidst the fluids , that it may separate one fluid
from another ; .-and God made the expanse and separated the fluids below the expanse from the fluids above the expanse , and 00 it was done . " To this the following note is subjoined by the translator : ^ l
" The term fluid ^ corripFeh ^ nds waiter tod air , andl | W <)^ e ^ i uses * meim with the same latitudev , HTRits appear ? indisputable from the * tM > &jk % fmitof facts : the divine hintori ^ haft-ivot mentioned the air by , any appropriate tt ^ p& $ and if it freiiot included in fii ^ w ^ Jbe has not rnefltionedfit ^^ £ wWcb is iiwerdQdible ^ The saro ^ iifce *? *
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as producing birds as w ^ fy- afcifefc ^ < t And Go * saW | 4 et ifefc ^ Utet ^^ S forth abundantly the moviD ^ cFeatu ^ that hath Kffe ; * £ & fo ^ tfeit niay ^ y above the earth ^^ ijft tii e ^ 6 pbn * firmainent of heaven / ' This is the Common Version , and strictly conformable to the original . The meaning then is , Let
the waters , bring ; forth the fishes and let the air bring forth the fowl . T }^ the water > indeed , produced the birds , as well as the fishes , is thus asserted in 2 Esdras vi . 47 1 ^ U poA . the fifth day % iou saidat unto the seventh part , where the waters were gathered , that it should bring forth living creatures , fowls and fishes . "
When we read , then , that God separated the fluids below the expanse from the fluids above in the expanse , we are to understand the waters below the expanse on the surface of the earth , and the airiri the expanse above
the surface of the earth : Thus Moses , by a fair interpretation of his own language , is rescued from the vulgar notion , if a notion so vulgar ever could prevail , that waters exist above the firmament , . similar : to tho ® e below it .
The philosophers of Greece , and probably those of Egypt and Chaldea before them , were uniformly of ' opinion , that air and water were distfnct elements , utterly incommunicable with each other , v Moses , on the contrary ,
whom Mr . B . supposes not to have been exempt from the 7 grossest errors , thought tlrase elements so analogous * that he , comprehends them tinder the same general term , and I leave-it to the reader tor determine whose notion is
most conformable to the discoveries of modern philosophy * . " It is evident /' ¦ adds Mr . B ., p . 21 , " that this writer believed that light might exist in the absence * of the sun , as it appears to do in the mor 4 >» g ^ evening twilight-, wheiitfoe suiijteete w the hi < w ? izon , or in a cloudy d ^ wieA he is invisible ; and of course ^ iie believed that tlie priB « ip « l use / of *^ f eun was not to create *! hut to ificreW arAfw €
; the daylight /* I > voa ^ er ^ he ^ r so » f * f acioiis as ^ JWfe-: Jft ^ sb «^ & $ M Busp ^ ct that bfc war ^ lfoi ^ tic ^ vto ctfae ¦^ e ^ msim ^^ m ^ f &" * & aseribes to- }^^ > e ^ € ^^ ^ t ^^^^ ^ dtwtil *^^ wfeli ** s ^ h ^ v ^^^^ &m ^^^ l beea ok ^ muU fg ^ mth ^^ i ^^ »**
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96 < JBen DatMon the Md ^ aie ^^ r ^ o ^ he ^ teattoth
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1822, page 96, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2509/page/32/
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