As
you probably already know, Ancient Near-Eastern Cosmology, or Biblical cosmology, is the way the
writers of the Biblespecifically the Old Testamentviewed the universe, in terms of how it was
formed and what it meant. Because the Old Testament was written over a significant period of
time, not all the writers shared identical beliefs, but some ideas recur, such as that of the
Earth being suspended over water between heaven and the underworld (which was, before concepts
of Hell, simply a place where humans went after death).
Let's go through
these suggested passages one at a time and look for the elements that connect with Ancient Near
Eastern Cosmology.
In Exodus 20:4, we can clearly see this understanding of
the structure of earth and its relationship to the rest of the cosmos. In this verse, readers
are counseled against making images "in the form of anything in heaven above or on the
earth beneath or in the waters below." I've used the New International Version here,
because it's a clear translation; it helps us understand how earth was viewed as being a flat
circle above water, with Heaven over it.
In Psalm 93, we see elements once
again of this structure, but we also find the importance of the seaand of the Lord being more
"mighty" than the sea is. In the "agon" or "struggle" model of how
God came into his power, he smashes the seas, which represent chaos and are filled with
monsters. The "thunder of the great waters" mentioned in this Psalm seems to represent
the seas' battle against God, which God has now wonhe is "mightier than the breakers of the
sea" and has thus established himself as the most powerful thing in Creation.
In Proverbs 8: 22€“29, the image of God establishing dominion over the seas recurs
againGod "gave the sea its boundary" so that it would not "overstep his
command." God has done battle against the sea, and he has also set the "clouds
above" and fixed "the fountains of the deep" below the earth. This passage gives
clear evidence again of how the earth is viewed as being in between the waters below, which God
has wrestled into submission, and the heavens above. The speaker in thisis generally understood
to be Wisdom.
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