for, as will be shown
later on, they point to a development of astronomy that cannot be dated
earlier than 700 B.C.

On the other hand, the first chapter of Genesis was composed very early.
The references to the heavenly bodies in verse 16 bear the marks of the
most primitive condition possible of astronomy. The heavenly bodies are
simply the greater light, the lesser light, and the stars--the last
being introduced quite parenthetically. It is the simplest reference to
the heavenly bodies that is made in Scripture, or that, indeed, could be
made.

There may well have been Babylonians who held higher conceptions of God
and nature than those given in the Tiamat myth. It is certain that very
many Hebrews fell short of the teaching conveyed in the first chapter of
Genesis. But the fact remains that the one nation preserved the Tiamat
myth, the other the narrative of Genesis, and each counted its own
Creation story sacred. We can only rightly judge the two nations by what
they valued. Thus judged, the Hebrew nation stands as high above the
Babylonian in intelligence, as well as in faith, as the first chapter of
Genesis is above the Tiamat myth.

FOOTNOTES:

[26:1] _Records of the Past_, vol. i. p. 124.

[27:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of
Assyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 16.

[28:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of
Assyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 16.

[28:2] _Records of the Past_, vol. i. p. 140.

[28:3] _Ibid._ p. 142.

[30:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of
Assyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 49.

[31:1] _Babel and Bible_, Johns' translation, pp. 36 and 37.

[31:2] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of
Assyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 48.

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRMAMENT

The sixth verse of the first chapter of Genesis presents a difficulty as
to the precise meaning of the principal word, viz. that translated
_firmament_.

"And God said, Let there be a _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ in the midst of
the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And
God made the _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, and divided the waters which were
under the _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ from the waters which were above the
_r[=a]qi[=a]`_: and it was so. And God called the
_r[=a]qi[=a]`_ _Shamayim_. And the evening and the morning
were the second day."

It is, of