rth," and then
proceeds to explain them part by part; in somewhat the same way as
one might say: "This house was constructed by that builder," and then
add: "First, he laid the foundations, then built the walls, and
thirdly, put on the roof." In accepting this explanation we are,
therefore, not bound to hold that a different heaven is spoken of in
the words: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth," and when
we read that the firmament was made on the second day.

We may also say that the heaven recorded as created in the beginning
is not the same as that made on the second day; and there are several
senses in which this may be understood. Augustine says (Gen. ad lit.
i, 9) that the heaven recorded as made on the first day is the
formless spiritual nature, and that the heaven of the second day is
the corporeal heaven. According to Bede (Hexaem. i) and Strabus, the
heaven made on the first day is the empyrean, and the firmament made
on the second day, the starry heaven. According to Damascene (De Fide
Orth. ii) that of the first day was spherical in form and without
stars, the same, in fact, that the philosophers speak of, calling it
the ninth sphere, and the primary movable body that moves with diurnal
movement: while by the firmament made on the second day he understands
the starry heaven. According to another theory, touched upon by
Augustine [*Gen. ad lit. ii, 1] the heaven made on the first day was
the starry heaven, and the firmament made on the second day was that
region of the air where the clouds are collected, which is also called
heaven, but equivocally. And to show that the word is here used in an
equivocal sense, it is expressly said that "God called the firmament
heaven"; just as in a preceding verse it said that "God called the
light day" (since the word "day" is also used to denote a space of
twenty-four hours). Other instances of a similar use occur, as
pointed out by Rabbi Moses.

The second and third objections are sufficiently answered by what has
been already said.
_______________________

SECOND ARTICLE [I, Q. 68, Art. 2]

Whether There Are Waters Above the Firmament?

Objection 1: It would seem that there are not waters above the
firmament. For water is heavy by nature, and heavy things tend
naturally downwards, not upwards. Therefore there are not waters
above the firmament.

Obj. 2: Further, water is fluid by nature, and fluids cannot rest
on a sphere, as experience shows. Therefor