cosmology
Although there is no concise and clearly presented cosmology in the Hebrew texts, we may find clues to support or that contradict various assumed cosmologies or ones retrofitted to support certain doctrinal teachings throughout recorded history.
This page will track work in progress regarding any possible interpretations tha may arise.
Theory 1
As discussed in the rashenim article, a rather radical localized cosmology seems to be implied by a parallel reading of Genesis 1:1 and Deuteronomy 4:32 where the First Ones arrived on Earth and proceeded to split the territory into two groups. The first group was the Alehim and the second group were the Semim.
In this interpretation, the First Ones (rashenim) are also called the Cycling Ones (iomim) because they were orbiting around Earth, or “hovering over the face of the deep”. This would also likely indicate an equivalence with “the To Ones” (alim).
Additionally, in this cosmology, the Semim are equivalent to or perhaps “become” or “spawn” the Adem. This makes a lot of sense, given the interpretation of Semim as both “Legendary Ones” and “Prototypes”, however it explicitly shuts down our previous speculation that the “First Ones” refers to the Semim. The equivalency of Shemim and Adem might be problematic. How does this hold up to examination of Genesis 2 and all the other instances of all these words?
If it does hold up it raises a very interesting parallelism between Cain and Abel, due to the stark difference between Alehim - literally “the Tree People” and Adem - literally “the Red Meat”. In this motif, both animal and vegetable are given shares of territories.
This view also has some fairly obvious and many more less than obvious ties with Norse cosmology.