"The Heavens declare the glory of Hashem, and the firmament speaks of His handiwork."

Malbim writes that the "firmament" of this verse speaks specifically of the atmosphere surrounding the earth. This is the part of the heavens which interacts directly with the earth, showering it with rain and providing it with ever-changing weather patterns.

In this verse, then, we have the dual nature of the heavens. The beginning of the verse speaks of the "shomayim." This is derived from the root "sham," meaning "there." Here we speak of the heavens as something infinitely remote, completely beyond our ken. We say that when we look up into the sky and see the infinity of the galaxy and the stars contained therein, we are filled with awe at having come face-to-face with the glory of Hashem. Then, the second part of the verse describes how the heavens, remote as they may be in one sense, nevertheless interact directly with our own world. In this sense we say that the firmament tells of His handiwork. It tells how the creation of the universe was not a one time act on Hashem's part. No: Hashem continually intervenes in the doings of His creation, and the hand of providence is eternally evident in this interaction between heaven and earth.

"The heavens are My throne," Hashem says at the end of the book of Isaiah. And in our verse, we are shown how this is borne out in the two ways in which man perceives the heavens. On the one hand, the infinity of the heavens causes him to recognize the vastness of Hashem's universe, and his own puny insignificance compared to it. Yet on the other hand, we are shown our great importance in Hashem's eyes. He has not created us and then simply left us. Always the hand of providence is felt in our world, directing us onto the path which we have been chosen to follow.

Copyright (c) 1998 by Rabbi Levi Langer

Courtesy of www.JewishAmerica.com
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