Studying the use of Hebrew words can actually be quite technical, but it is liberals who play word games in insisting firmament refers to a solid or semisolid domed sky, as the Hebrew word for “firmament” is not precise, and unlike what “firm” conveys, it can easily convey a non-solid realm, as in “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.” (Ps. 150:1)
And likewise it can refer to something rather ethereal above, and which in Genesis 1 divides the solid earth from the expanse above, and in which bird fly, and stars exist and move . (Gn. 1:6-20; Jdg. 5:20) And which is over the heads of creatures. (Exek. 1:22-26)
And as often seen in Hebrew poetic parallelization (chiasmus), in which a truth is repeated using different words having the same meaning (as in Ps. 119:105), firmament in Psalms 19:1 can refer to the heavens: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. “ (Psalms 19:1)
However, due to my past experiences with you and comrades (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2562273/posts?q=1&;page=51, etc.) in which objective explanations are utterly refused if they militate against atheistic anti-Bible assertions which they evidence they are determined to hold to, i will just leave you 3 links to sites which do more of that regarding this area in more detail: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/tj/v13/n2/firmament http://christianthinktank.com/gilgymess.html http://www.tektonics.org/af/babgenesis.html
Same old.
The illusion of the blue sky appearing as a “solid” background is what the “firmament” is referring to. Birds fly through apparently transparent part of the sky, and hence that separation, whereas stars do not appear suspended in air but rather, suspended in the “solid background” behind the transparent air, due to the loss of perception of depth at that distance.
But yea, keep spinning this with the mythology of “firmaments” and whatnot, and tell me how water separation fits into all this.
As I see it, the falling rain appearing out of no visible source in the sky is the water that the ancients called “from beyond the firmament”. Your “explanations” on the other hand require one to indulge in extreme obfuscation, in order to try and fit that water separation part in the entire narrative.