Jab says: << “…the Heavens and the Earth.” This verse was obviously written by someone who thought the sky and the Earth upon which he lived were separate structures. But the Earth is just one planet among many, orbiting one star among many. >>
Continuing in that vein: “My love is like a red, red rose” was obviously written by someone who thought that people and flowers are identical. But people are mammals, not identical to plants in any way imaginable: no leaves, no petals, no thorns, and few people are coloured red.
“What light through yonder window breaks” was obviously written by someone who thought that light had mass, and could break something fragile like a window.
“The best laid plans of mice and men…” was obviously written by someone who thought that mice could make plans, just like humans can.
C’mon. I think the opening lines of Genesis are a beautiful expression (poetical) of the origins of the world. Sure, Earth and Heavens are separated – because the rest of the book is concerned with morality, which happens on Earth, not in the Heavens. The whole opening poetry is about separation – earth from heaven, light from darkness, land from waters, water above from water below.
<< And the Earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. >>
jab sees this as written by people who lived in a desert and didn’t know how to travel by ocean. But the word “deep” when used here does not mean “ocean” – that’s much later, English usage. The word “deep” in the Hebrew text has no equivalent – it means depths, unfathomable, unimaginable, deepness. It is used in the Hebrew text only in the context of primordial chaos.
And I find this line a beautiful expression of an artist creating (whether sculture, poetry, music,…). The artist starts with the base material, unformed, unstructured, and the spirit of the artist moves gently, caressingly, like a parent hovering over a child, over the material.
This is not a science text, but a poem, and a brilliant poem with amazing depth of feeling in a few, sparse Hebrew words.
To answer your last question, jab, the original Hebrew text did not have punctuation, no periods to mark the end of sentences, no paragraphing to mark the ends of thoughts. The word “and” (Hebrew: vav) was therefore frequently placed at the beginning of a new thought, to indicate both a linkage with the prior sentence, and a separation.
