קוד: נוטה שמים כיריעה בתנ"ך
סוג: פרטים1
מאת: אבנר רמו
אל: avnerramu @ aol.com
Gazing at the sky, particularly at night, conveys to the viewer the impression that the earth around him is covered by a dome-shaped sky. The Modern Hebrew term for this “sky dome” is:
כפת השמים (kipat hashamaim) - “the sky’s hat.” However, it seems that the Prophet Isaiah viewed the sky above him as a giant tent (Is 40:22). Furthermore, He says about God:
הנוטה כדק שמים - “that pitches up the heavens as a curtain(?)” (Is 40:22; see also: Is 42:5).
The fact that God נטה שמים - “stretched out the heavens” is also mentioned by other biblical writers (Jer 10:12; 51:15; Zec 12:1; Ps 18:10; 104:2; Job 9:8). Yet we should notice that the same verb נטה (nth) is also used in regard to the erection of tents as in: ויט אהלו - “and had pitched up his tent” (Jud 4:11; see also: Gen 12:8; 26:25; 33:19; 35:21; Ex 33:7; 2 Sam 16:22; Jer 10:22; 1 Ch 15:1; 16:1; 2 Ch 1:4).
It appears that an integral part of the tent was theיריעה - “curtain” (Ex 26:12, 13; Is 54:2; Jer 4:20; 10:20; Hab 3:7; Cant 1:5). Now, when we hear the Psalmist: נוטה שמים כיריעה - “who pitches up the heavens like a curtain” (Ps 104:2), it appears that Isaiah’s concept of the sky as a colossal tent was shared by other biblical writers.
Several biblical writers use the expression: מתחת השמים - “from under the heaven” (Gen 1:9; 6:17; Ex 17:14; Deu 7:24; 9:14; 25:19; 29:19; 2 Ki 14:27).
Now we return to the Book of Isaiah:
הישב על-חוג הארץ, וישביה כחגבים; הנוטה כדק שמים, וימתחם כאהל לשבת.
“It is He that sits above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that pitches up the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in” (Is 40:22).
It is not known how the English translator determined that the Hapax legomenon וימתחם means: “and spread them out.” The Greek translator wrote here: “and stretched it” but it seems more likely that וימתחם (vaimthakhem) is a letter-deletion error of ומתחתם (vumithakhtham) - “and under them.”