II. Scripture Passages arranged according to these Dis- tinctions.— This latter division of tlie celestial regions is very convenient and ([uite Biblical. (I.) Under the first head, caelum nuhiferum, the following phrases naturally fall — (rt) " Fowl," or " fowls of the heaven, of the air," see Gen. ii, 19 ; vii, 3, 23 ; ix, 2 ; Deut. iv, 17 ; xxviii, 2(5 ; 1 Kings xxi, 24 ; Job xii, 7 ; xxviii, 21 ; xxxv, 11 ; Psa. viii, 8; Ixxix, 2; civ, 12; Jer. vii, 33 et passim; Ezek. xxix, 5 et passim ; Dan. ii, 38 ; Hos. ii, 18 ; iv, 3 ; vii, 12; Zeph. i, 3; Mark iv, 3 (to. ircTHva. Toi oupa- vov) ; Luke viii, 5 ; ix, 58 ; xiii, 19; Acts x, 12 ; xi, 6 — in all which passages the same original words in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek Scriptures (C'^'^'j, ')'?'?^5 oi'pavoi) are with equal propriety rendered indifferently "air'' and ^'heaven" — similarly we read of " the path of the eagle in the air" (Prov. xxx, 19) ; of '• the eagles of heaven" (Lam. iv, 19) ; of " the stork of the heaven" (Jer. viii, 7) ; and of '• birds of heaven" in general (Eccl. x, 20 ; Jer. iv, 25). In addition to these zoological terms, we have meteorological facts included mider the same orig-
inal words; e. g. (J) "The dew of heaven" (Gen. xx\'ii, 28, 39 ; Deut. xxxiii, 28 ; Dan. iv, 15 et passim ; Hag. i, 10; Zech. viii, 12) : (c) " The clouds of heaven" (1 Kings xviii, 45; Psa. cxlvii, 8; Dan. vii, 13; Matt, xxiv, 30; xxvi, G4; Mark xiv, G2) : (d) The frost of heaven (Job xxxviii, 29): (e) The wimls of heaven (1 Kings xviii, 55; Psa. Lxxviii, 26; Dan. viii, 8; xi,4; Zech. ii,G; vi, 5 [see margin] ; Matt, xxiv, 31 ; Mark xiii, 27) : (/) The rain of heaven (Gen. viii, 2; Deut. xi, 11; xxviii, 12; Jer. xiv, 22; Acts xiv, 17 [^ovpavuSitv iitroiic] ; Jas. V, 18 ; Rev. xviii, G) : (y) Lightning, 7vith thunder (Job xxxvii, 3, 4 ; Luke xvii, 24). (II.) Caelum astriferum. The vast spaces of which astronomy takes cognizance are frequently referred to : e. g. («) in the phrase " host of heaven," in Deut. xvii, 3 ; Jer. viii, 2 ; INIatt. xxiv, 29 [pwdntiQ tCjv ovpavijjv'\ ; a sense which is obviously not to be confounded with another signification of the same phrase, as in Luke ii, 13 [see Angels] : (b) Lights of heaven (Gen. i, 14, 15, 16; Ezek. xxxii, 8) : (c) Stars of heaven (Gen. xxii, 17 ; xxvi, 4 ; Exod. xxxii, 13 ; Deut. i, 10 ; X, 22 ; xxviii, 62 ; Judg. v, 20 ; Neh. ix, 23 ; Isa. xiii, 10; Nah. iii, 16; Heb. xi, 12). (IH.) Calum angeliferum. It would exceed our limits if we were to collect the descriptive phrases which revelation has given us of heaven in its sublimest sense ; we content ourselves with indicating one or two of the most obvi- ous: (a) The heaven of heavens (Deut. x, 14; 1 Kings viii, 27; 2 Chron. ii, G, 18; Neh. ix, G; Psa. cxv, 16; cxlviii,4: (b) The third heavens (2 Cor. xii, 2): (c) The high and lofty [placel (Isa. xlvii, 15) : (d) The highest (Matt, xxi, 9 ; IMark xi, 10 ; Luke ii, 14, compared with Psa. cLxviii, 1). This heavenly sublimity was gracious- ly brought down to Jewish apprehension in the sacred symbol of their Tabernacle and Temple, which they rev- erenced (especially in the adytum of " the Holy of Ho- lies") as "the place where God's honor dwelt" (Psa. xxvi, 8), and amidst the scidptured types of his celestial reti- nue, in the cherubim of the mercy-seat (2 Kings xix, 15 ; Fsa. Ixxx, 1 : Isa. xxxvii, 16).
III. Meaning of the Terms used in the Original.— I. By far the most frequent designation of heaven in the He- brew Scriptures is Ql'^^) shama'yim, which the older lexicographers [see Cocceius, Zct. s.v.] regarded as the dual, but which Gesenius and Fiirst have restored to the dignity, which St. Jerome gave it, of the plural of an obsolete noun, "ipi^ as (d'piJ;;/;/?-. of "^"la and SI'S from 1^), According to these recent scholars, the idea ex- pressed by the word is height, elevation (Gesenius, Thes. p. 1453 ; Furst, Hebr. Wort, ii, 467). In this respect of its essential meaning it resembles the Greek ovpavoc [from the radical op, denoting height] (Pott, Etymol. Forsch. i, 123, ed. 1). Pott's rendering of this root op, by "sich erhehen," xdmmAs us of oiu" own beautiful word heaven, which thus enters into brotherhood of significa- tion with the grand idea of the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek. Professor Bosworth, in his Anglo-Sax. Diet., under the verb hebban, to raise or elevate, gives the kin- dred Avords of the wliole Teutonic family, and deduces therefrom the noun heofon or heofen, in the sense of heaven. And although the primary notion of the Latin caelum (akin to koTXoq and our hollow) is the less sub- lime one of a covered or vaulted space, yet the loftier sense of elevation has prevailed, both in the original (see White and Kiddle, s. v. Coehim) and in the derived lan- guages (comp. French del, and the English -word ceil- ing).