Shamayim

Shamayim (literally "sky" in Hebrew) or "the Heavens", was an important concept in the religions and cosmology of the ancient Levant.

Canaanite Views of Shamayim

Shamayim (the Heavens) was the husband of Eretz (the Earth) and was the father of El, was a Canaanite divinity, equivalent to the Mesopotamian Anu, pre-existing the creation by El, the Father of the Gods. Called the Epigeius or Autochthon by Sanchuniathon [Attridge, Harold. W., and R. A. Oden, Jr. (1981), "Philo of Byblos: The Phoenician History: Introduction, Critical Text, Translation, Notes", CBQMS 9 (Washington: D. C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America).] , meaning the "self-creating", in Greek myth he equated with Uranus husband of Gaia. In later Phoenician and to a certain extent Hebrew mythology he was believed to have originally existed as an androgynous being and the first part of the creation was the separation of him from the Earth as the "upper firmament", in which the space between the two was that which was filled (i.e. the later Gnostic "Pleroma") by Elohim. As the pre-existing androgynous being he was considered to have been "the God most High" (El Elyon). In Hittite belief El Elyon was known as Alalu. This divinity is believed to have taken as spouse Beruth (Bereshit, = "the Beginning"), and through entering time in this way his nature split. In some ways he is considered to have housed "the Hosts of Heaven", the divine family of El, known as the Elohim. In other texts he was seen as descending from time to time to the divine mountain which supported the firmament, which is how the Gods came to descend to mortal realms. In this way, the creation by the Elohym was seen as filling the Heavens. Thus in this way Shamayim comprised the "God Beyond God".

Not much is known of his character or personality, as he was superseded and displaced from his authority by his son, El, whose personality fused with El Elyon, and in the Phoenician area Ba'al Hadad syncretised with Shamayim to become known as Ba'al Shamayim ("Lord of Heaven") [Moscatti, Sabatino (1968), "The World of the Phoenicians" (Phoenix Giant)] , chief God of 10th century Byblos [ [http://books.google.com.kh/books?id=1EEtmT9Tbj4C&dq=review+sabatino+phoenicians&pg=PP1&ots=BHeE1GP4Tn&sig=kjsuKgySEdc4i06c2tevIv3mV9o&hl=km&prev=http://www.google.com.kh/search?q=review+Sabatino+phoenicians&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail Ribichini, Sergio "Beliefs and Religious Life" in Maoscati Sabatino (1997), "The Phoenicians" (Rissoli)] ] , and in this form is widely known in the Phoenician world. Nevertheless, the opening verse of Genesis 1.1 suggests that he pre-existed the Elohim, and that creation by the Elohim consisted in filling, or of fattening him and his wife.

hamayim in the Bible

"Shamayim" or the vault of heaven is a crucial concept in the Bible. The word “firmament” appears in the King James version of the Old Testament 17 times, and in each case it is translated from the Hebrew word "raqiya", which meant the visible vault of the sky. The word raqiya comes from riqqua, meaning "“beaten out.”" In ancient times, brass objects were either cast in the form required or beaten into shape on an anvil. A good craftsman could beat a lump of cast brass into a thin bowl. Thus, Elihu asks Job, "“Can you beat out [raqa] the vault of the skies, as he does, hard as a mirror of cast metal (Job 37:18)?”"

Elihu's question shows that the Hebrews considered the vault of heaven a solid, physical object. Such a large dome would be a tremendous feat of engineering. The Hebrews (and supposedly Yahweh Himself) considered it exactly that, and this point is hammered home by five scriptures:

Job 9:8, "“...who by himself spread out the heavens [shamayim] ...”"

Psalm 19:1, "“The heavens [shamayim] tell out the glory of God, the vault of heaven [raqiya] reveals his handiwork.”"

Psalm 102:25, "“...the heavens [shamayim] were thy handiwork.”"

Isaiah 45:12, "“I, with my own hands, stretched out the heavens [shamayim] and caused all their host to shine...”"

Isaiah 48:13, "“...with my right hand I formed the expanse of the sky [shamayim] ...”"

Shamayim comes from "shameh", a root meaning to be lofty. It literally means the sky. Other passages complete the picture of the sky as a lofty, physical dome. God “sits throned on the vaulted roof of earth ["chuwg"] , whose inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the skies [shamayim] like a curtain, he spreads them out like a tent to live in... [Isaiah 40:22] .” Chuwg literally means "“circle”" or "“encompassed.”" By extension, it can mean roundness, as in a rounded dome or vault. Job 22:14 says God "“walks to and fro on the vault of heaven [chuwg] .”" In both verses, the use of chuwg implies a physical object, on which one can sit and walk. Likewise, the context in both cases requires elevation. In Isaiah, the elevation causes the people below to look small as grasshoppers. In Job, God's eyes must penetrate the clouds to view the doings of humans below. Elevation is also implied by Job 22:12: "“Surely God is at the zenith of the heavens [shamayim] and looks down on all the stars, high as they are.”"

This picture of the cosmos is reinforced by Ezekiel's vision. The Hebrew word raqiya appears five times in Ezekiel, four times in Ezekiel 1:22-26 and once in Ezekiel 10:1. In each case the context requires a literal vault or dome. The vault appears above the "“living creatures”" and glitters "“like a sheet of ice.”" Above the vault is a throne of sapphire (or lapis lazuli). Seated on the throne is "“a form in human likeness,”" which is radiant and "“like the appearance of the glory of the Lord.”" In short, Ezekiel saw a vision of God sitting throned on the vault of heaven, as described in Isaiah 40:22.

Later Views of the Shamayim

Some of this primordial character coloured later Gnostic beliefs. Marcion, for example asserted that the all-good creator was incapable of allowing suffering into the world, and so there must be two different Gods [Pagels, Elaine "The Gnostic Gosples" (Vintage) p.33-35] . For example, "On the Origin of the World" texts found at Nag Hammadi state that when the creator said "I am God and there is no other God than me", he was answered "You are mistaken, Samael (i.e. God of the blind)", as he had sinned against the immortal ones (the Elohim). The jealousy of this God of Eden was then seen as the coming of the first sin of the jealous master (permitting the fall), against whose tyranny the serpent (based upon an Aramaic pun, "hewya" "serpent"; "hawa" "instruct"; and Eve, "Hawah") rebelled.

References