| Site Map | Contacts | Links | Newsletter | |
Genesis 1:5-8 DAY 1
The Ends of Heaven
The heavens and earth are said to have "ends," "quarters," and "corners." There are several different Hebrew and Greek words that indicate the remote regions of the earth that will be studied below.
Psalm 19:6 says, "His (the sun’s) going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." The Hebrew word for "end" is hxq. It means the extremity of whatever it modifies. The LXX uses the Greek word akrou which means "the highest part of, or extremity of." The Vulgate has a summo coelo.
Isaiah 13:5 says, "They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land." The Medes are said to be from the end of heaven.
In the New Testament Matthew 24:31 says, "And he shall send his angel with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end (akrwn) of heaven to the other."
In the NT the "ends of Heaven" are probably where the sky and land meet at the horizon. This also seems to assumes that the earth is flat and not a sphere. Jesus when he was taken up to a "very high mountain" could see "all the kingdoms of the world" which could only be true if one assumes a flat earth (Matt. 4:8; Luke 4:5; Seely 1987, 30). In ancient times the earth was considered the center of the universe (geocentric) where the sun revolved around the earth, and for the Jews, Jerusalem was the center (navel) of the earth (Seely, 34).
Plato in Tim. 36E writes, "the ends (escaton) of heaven (Archer-Hind 1973, 114). In PGM 8,8 (Papyri Graecae Magicae) it says, "corners (gwniais) of the heavens" (A&G 1957, 168). This means the extremities of the heaven (at the horizon).
From Psalm 19:6 it seems clear that the "ends of the heavens" are where the heavens meet the earth at the horizon. The "ends of the earth" would also be where the earth meets the heavens at the horizon.
Next - Genesis
1:6-8 - Heavens Stretched Out
Bibliography