> In the Bible "the windows of heaven" are
> sluices in the firmament above which is an ocean. When they are opened,
the
> ocean above pours down; and when they are closed the ocean above is
dammed up
> again by the solid firmament. In the biblical context asteroids would be
> considered stars and would be embedded on the underside of the firmament,
not
> above it in back of the sluices; so sluices would not have to be opened
to
> have them fall to earth.
Talk of a stretch! Whew! Firmament (KJV; expanse NIV) comes from the
word riqiya` which, according to Strong, means 'expanse'. How riqiya` is
used in the Bible determines its meaning. In verse 20 the birds "fly in
the open 'riqiya`' of heaven." How can birds fly in a solid shell? The
most obvious solution is that those who wrote the Bible did not concieve of
a solid shell to hold the stars. It is true that other societies of the
time believed such sillyness, but that does not mean that the believers in
God held that position too.
The description of the dividing of the waters by the expanse in verses 6
and 7 does not define in which state (solid, liquid or vapor) were the
waters above. How is it that you know that it was liquid (oceans)? Just
because the waters below were liquid does not mean that those above were
the same.
Since asteroids are invisible to the naked eye, they would not have been
known to the ancients. Your inclusion of them with the stars in the shell
is your own interpretation, not theirs nor the Bible's.
I am not saying that the ancients, nor the writer of Genesis 7 and 8, knew
about asteroids, but that the choice of the word 'arubba' under the
inspiriation of the Holy Spirit is most interesting in that it's root has
the meaning of to lurk or to lie in ambush. It seems like the Holy Spirit
is saying to us who have now learned of asteroids, 'See, I know all about
the universe, and have placed these clues for you to discover and believe.'
Allen