the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Heaven and Earth
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or is an expression for the whole creation (Genesis 1:1). In prophetic language the phase often signifies the political state or condition of persons of different ranks in this world. The heaven of the political world is the sovereignty thereof, whose host and stars are the powers that rule, namely, kings, princes, counselors, and magistrates. The earth is the peasantry, plebeians, or common race of men, who possess no power, but are ruled by superiors. Of such a heaven and earth we may understand mention to be made in Haggai 2:6; 7:21, 22, and referred to in Hebrews 12:26. Such modes of speaking were used in Oriental poetry and philosophy, which made a heaven and earth in everything, that is, a superior and inferior in every part of nature; and we learn from Maimonides, quoted by Mede, that the Arabians in his time, when they would express that a man was fallen into some great calamity, said, "His heaven has fallen to the earth," meaning his superiority or prosperity is much diminished. "To look for new heavens and a new earth" (2 Peter 3:13) may mean to look for a new order of the present world.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Heaven and Earth'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/h/heaven-and-earth.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
