Talmud sur Job 37:18

It has been stated in the name of Rebbi Joshua⁸⁶Rebbi Joshua ben Ḥananiah, one of the two foremost students of Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, of the first generation after the destruction of the Second Temple. He is known for his cosmological opinion, explained in the first chapters of Seder ‘Olam, that the world was created in Nisan. Here he disagrees with the opinion of the later rabbis, discussed up to now, that the width of the sky is a parcourse of several years. In the Babylonian Talmud Ḥagigah 15a, R. Joshua seems to oppose the opinion of Simeon ben Zoma who defines the spread between the lower (terrestrian) and the upper (heavenly) waters to be three digits; smaller measures there are only given by late Amoraïm.: the thickness of the sky is two fingers wide. The words of Rebbi Ḥanina⁸⁷Even though his words are reported by Rebbi Aḥa of the fourth generation of Amoraïm, R. Ḥanina here is R. Ḥanina bar Ḥama of the first generation. The verse from Job is ambiguous as are most verses of that book. The verb תרקיע is usually taken to mean “to reach the sky”; here it is taken in the sense “to work metal into thin sheets” indicated in the previous section by R. Yehudah ben Pazi. disagree, as RebbiAḥa said in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina (Job37:18) “Go to spread the skies with Him; they are strong like a cast mirror.” “Go to spread”, that shows that they are made like sheet metal. I could think that they are not sturdy but the verse says “strong”. I could think that they might weaken⁸⁸At some time in the future. The Targum to Job translates “mirror of refined metal”. The implication here seems to be from the passive participle מוצק “being cast” (or “refined”) in a timeless manner., the verse says “like a cast mirror;” at every moment they appear recast.

Rebbi Yoḥanan and Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish⁸⁹The brother-in-law and, according to Babylonian tradition, student of R. Yoḥanan. They both elaborate on the verse from Job treated by R. Yoḥanan’s teacher R. Ḥanina.. Rebbi Yoḥanan said: Usually when someone stretches the ropes of a tent, in time the ropes will loosen. But here (Is. 40:22) “He stretched them like a tent to sit in,” and it said (Job 37:18): “they are strong.” Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said: “Usually if someone casts a vessel, in time it will rust. But here “like a cast mirror,” all the time they look like newly cast. Rebbi Azariah⁹⁰One of the teachers of the fifth generation of Galilean Amoraïm. In Bereshit rabba 12, R. Azariah explicitly objects to the opinion that everything that has generations will wilt and die, including sky and earth. His statement here seems to say that the generations of the sky are the astronomical periods and that nevertheless everything is as on the day when sky and earth were created. comments on the remark of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish (Gen. 2:1–3) “The sky and the earth and all their hosts were completed. God finished on the Seventh Day … and God blessed the Seventh Day.” What is written after that? (Gen. 2:4) “These are the generations of the skies.” What has one to do with the other? Only that a day comes and goes, a week comes and goes, a month comes and goes, a year comes and goes⁹¹The use of masculine forms for both masculine and feminine is not uncommon in the Yerushalmi.. And it is written (Gen. 2:4) “These are the generations of the skies and the earth when they were created, on the day that the Eternal, God, created earth and heaven.”