The “firmament” is not space. The division of the waters below the firmament to the water above the firmament indicates what science calls earth’s atmosphere. The Hebrew word translated "firmament" is..."râqîyaʻ, (raw-kee'-ah) from
H7554; properly, an expanse, i.e. the firmament or (apparently) visible arch of the sky:—firmament."
This is the heavens where the birds fly.....and where gravity operates. There are three 'heavens'....this one between the waters above and the waters below,....then there is the heavens where the sun, moon and stars are located in space, and there is also the invisible heavens where God and his angels reside.
All things on earth are protected by gravity from flying off into space with the earth spinning at the alarming rate of 1,000 MPH, and it orbits the sun at an astounding 67,000 MPH! It is truly mind boggling!
Everything that is needed to sustain life is contained within our atmosphere. It is also protective, in that it prevents an enormous amount of meteorites from reaching the earth’s surface, creating friction as they burn up before doing any harm to earth’s creatures. The moon's pocked surface is proof of Earth's protection from these objects.
Every molecule of water and air inside of earth's atmosphere, is recycled so that earth is a self sustaining “spaceship”. Everything on earth is designed to recycle itself. Only selfish humans pollute their own environments.
Well, we have a way to calculate time from then, that is true, but that in no way determines the length of the creative “days”. That word in Hebrew has more than one meaning, as it does in English.
Yes, God parted the waters and the firmament was between them. Peter tells us that God used the waters above to flood the earth in Noah’s day.
2 Peter3:5-6...
“They deliberately forget this fact: that God did destroy the world with a mighty flood long after he had made the heavens by the word of his command and had used the waters to form the earth and surround it.” (TLB)
In the beginning, the earth was covered with water until God drew up the water and placed it above the firmament.
God used that water to again flood the earth.....and then perhaps drew it up to the poles where it was snap frozen.
Climate change is now threatening to melt the polar ice caps, which would create another global inundation.
Actually it says he “made” them, not that he “created” them. Creation of the heavenly bodies happened "in the beginning".
That is a different word and it means to shape or fashion something that is already in existence.
It says....
"And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. . . .And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:14,16-18 ESV)
We know that lights appear to be in the expanse, from a human standpoint, but thousands of years later, as knowledge progressed, it became clear that the heavenly bodies were not part of the "heavens" where birds fly, but part of the heavens beyond Earth's atmosphere. According to Job, cloud layers prevented the heavenly bodies from being visible on earth.
There is so much more to Genesis than a cursory reading reveals IMO.
