SPECIAL TOPIC: THE CIRCLE OF THE EARTH (i.e., dome, skin, vault, BDB 295 CONSTRUCT BDB 75)
This is a common Ancient Middle Eastern concept (cf. Isa. 42:5; Job 9:8; Ps. 104:2; Jer. 10:12; 51:15; Zech. 12:1). In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, heaven is described as a "skin." In the Rig Veda heaven is described as "stretched out like a hide." This is simply a figurative way of speaking of the vault of the heaven (i.e., the atmosphere of this planet) above the earth (see SPECIAL TOPIC: HEAVEN). It is the language of imagery (see G. B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible, chapter 2, "Metaphor," pp. 131-197).
The term "curtain" (BDB 201) is used in this sense in Isa. 40:22. The word means "to crush" (cf. Isa. 40:15, "fine dust"). Apparently it can also refer to something "thin" (KB 229, i.e., the dome that covers the earth). Remember interpreters try to establish meaning by
but #1 has priority!
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