And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so.
Ver. 7. Waters which were above the firmament.] That is the clouds, and watery meteors above the lower region of the air, where God's "pavilion round about him is dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies". Psa 18:11 Jer 10:13 These he "weighs by measure"; Job 28:25 not a drop falls in vain, or in a wrong place. And this is the first heaven: as the second is the starry sky, which is firm and fast, "as a molten looking-glass". Job 37:18 To this heaven, some that have calculated curiously, have found it five hundred years' journey. Others say, that if a stone should fall from the eighth sphere, and should pass every hour a hundred miles, it would be sixty-five years or more, before it would come to ground. a Beyond this second heaven, Aristotle acknowledgeth none other. Beyond the movable heavens, saith he, there is neither body, nor time, nor place, nor vacuum. b But "we have a more sure word of prophecy." God's blessed book assures us of a "third heaven," 2Co 12:2 called elsewhere "the heaven of heavens," Deu 10:14 the "Paradise" of God, Luk 22:43 the "bosom of Abraham," Luk 16:22 the "Father's house," Joh 14:2 the "city of the living God," Heb 12:22 the "country" of his pilgrims. Heb 12:14 A body it is, for bodies are in it; but a subtile, fine, spiritual body; next in purity to the substance of angels and men's souls. It is also, say some, c solid as stone, but "clear as crystal" Rev 21:11 Job 37:18 A true firmament, indeed, not penetrable by any, no, not by angels, spirits, and bodies of just men made perfect; but by a miracle, God making way by His power, where there is no natural passage. It opens to the very angels, Joh 1:51 Gen 28:12 who yet are able to penetrate all under it. The other two heavens are to be passed through by the grossest bodies.
a Burton. Of Melancholy
b ουδε τοπος ουδε κενον ουδε χρονος εστιν εξω του ουπονου - Arist. De Caelo, c. ix.
c Yates's Model