創世記 1:6 註釋：Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Ramban & Rashbam

יהי רקיע BE THERE AN EXPANSE — Let the expansion become fixed; for although the heavens were created on the first day, they were still in a fluid form, and they became solidified only on the second day at the dread command (literally, rebuke) of the Holy One, blessed be He, when he said “Let the firmament be stable” (Genesis Rabbah 4:2). It is to this that allusion is made in what is written in (Job 26:11): “The pillars of heaven were trembling” (i. e. they were unstable) — this was during the whole of the first day — and on the second (Job 26:11): “they were astonished at His rebuke”, like a man who stands immovable, amazed at the rebuke of one who terrifies him.

“And He said”, the Gaon said regarding the firmament (raki’a) things that could not be; rather its explanation is “extended”, like “they were extended” (vayerak’u) Exodus 39:3, “I shall extend them” (erka’em Samuel II 22:43, and similarly, “and He stretched them [i.e., the heavens] out like a tent for dwelling”. Isaiah 40:22. And how profound is the word of the one who says that the edges of the sun are with the edges of the waters of the oceans. Now this firmament is the atmosphere, for when the light coalesced over the earth and a dry wind from the earth, the blade/flame was changed and became the firmament. And thus did it say in a Psalm Psalms 104:2 “He stretches the heavens like a curtain… the one who makes roofbeams of water”. And it mentions the clouds and the wind and the earth element, which is higher than the water, and thus it writes, “for He founded it upon the seas” Psalms 24:2, “the One Who extends the earth over the waters" Psalms 136:6 and similarly, anyone who goes to the sea is called, “goes down”. The meaning of “the One Who calls to the waters of the sea” Amos 5:8 – so that they should ascend, referring to clouds, and afterwards, “and He pours them out”.

LET THERE BE A FIRMAMENT. G-d now said that the substance which had come into being first — that which He created from nought — should be a firmament, stretched as a tent in the midst of the waters, separating between waters and waters. It is possible that this is what the Rabbis intended by their saying,⁹⁶Bereshith Rabbah 4:1. “Rav said, ‘The heavens were in a fluid form on the first day, and on the second day they solidified.’ Rav thus said, ‘Let there be a firmament means let the firmament become strong.’ Rabbi Yehudah the son of Rabbi Shimon said, ‘Let the firmament become like a plate, just as you say in the verse, And they did beat — [vayerak’u contains the same root as raki’a, firmament] — the gold into thin plates.’”⁹⁷Exodus 39:3.