The term
meqyahappears again in this verse in its meaning of
a 'reservoir', and its waters are called yamim,a term
used later for inland waters like the Mediterranean, and for
large rivers.
| JERUSALEM
BIBLE |
(ALTERNATIVE
GENESIS) |
|
God
called the dry land 'earth' and the mass of the waters
'seas', and God saw that it was good.
|
The
Shining Onesnamed the part that had dried out,
'arez', and the waters in the reservoir they called
'yamim';and the Shining Oneswere pleased
with the result.
|
There
is an important distinction, here, that should be borne in
mind when interpreting these passages. The dry land was not
called 'earth', as the Jerusalem Bible suggests - it was called
'arez',and later generations coined the term 'earth'
from the same root. They made it an omnibus word to cover
both soil and the planet, itself. Again, the term yamimoriginated
in the waters of the reservoir, and only later was used to
connote larger spreads of water.
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