Firmer than air

EDWARD T. BABINSKI SAID:

“Walton's disclaimers and purely functional approach is not endorsed by all OT scholars, nor even by all Evangelical OT scholars.”

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2010/09/thoughtless-free-thinkers.html#6921753519030747859

i) You somehow forgot to include that key concession in your TCD chapter, where you quote Walton and then cite five of his publications–as if whatever he says on the subject is indubitable.

ii) Your belated concession is also at odds with your previous argument from authority. Remember when you said “how do you put all of that information together from my chapter and conclude that so many Bible scholars who are experts on ANE cosmology, along with several respectable Evangelical Christian OT scholars who are likewise learned in ANE cosmology, are all missing out by not adopting your lame excuses?”

So you previously took the position that we should instantly submit to “expert” opinion. But now that you find out Walton is a double-edged sword, you suddenly switching to the view that instead of meekly accepting whatever the “experts” say on their own authority, we need to sift their arguments.

“Walton also admits in that paper that the Hebrew firmament was firmer than what we'd think of the sky today.”

i) Not “firm,” just firmer. Firmer than air. Well, that’s a rather flexible concept of solidity.

So did they think the firmament was spongy, like those Styrofoam boulders dotting the alien landscape in old Star Trek episodes? That would be "firmer" than air.

ii) When folks in the ANE took a hike up the local hills and mountains, which hold up the sky, did they find the sky was “firmer” on the summit? When they touched the sky up there, did the atmosphere feel hard–like a brassy ceiling? Could they poke their finger through the firmament? Did tall mountain-climbers bump their head against the ceiling of the firmament? Did they wear helmets whenever they went mountain-climbing?