In his interpretation of figure 4 of
facsimile 2 (a hypocephalus), Joseph Smith said it “Answers to the Hebrew word
Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament of the heavens . . . “
On Raukeeyang, such is simply the influence of Joshua Seixas and his flavour of Hebrew pronunciation and transliteration (Sephardic) of Hebrew רקיע. Most who know Hebrew would use the Ashkenazic method of transliteration (raq’ia). At the end, I have reproduced p. 5 of the second edition (1834) of Seixas' Manual Hebrew Grammar.
More
importantly, one has to ask why Joseph Smith and/or a Jewish redactor of the
Abrahamic narrative would, in their adaptation of pre-existing sources, interpret
a bird-like figure (here, it is a hawk) as having any association with the biblical “firmament/expanse”?
This is just speculation on my behalf, but perhaps the answer can be found in
the creation narrative in Gen 1 (a creation narrative is found in chs. 4-5 of
the text of the Book of Abraham, which may further strengthen this hypothesis):
And God
said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide
the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters
which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament:
and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the
morning were the second day . . . And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly
the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in
the open firmament of heaven. (Gen 1:6-8, 20)
In the above, we read of the firmament and
its function, and in v. 20, we learn of how celestial bodies and birds fly “in” the firmament of
heaven (the Hebrew is which literally reads “upon the face of the raq’ia the heavens [עַל־פְּנֵ֖י רְקִ֥יעַ הַשָּׁמָֽיִם] ). Such would perhaps
explain why the final redactor of the Abrahamic narrative would associate a
bird-figure with the biblical firmament.
Further Reading
Kevin L. Barney, "The Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources”
David Bokovoy on the Book of Abraham Facsimiles and the Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources
Blake T. Ostler, "Abraham: An Egyptian Connection"
Jeff Lindsay, The Book of Abraham Part 2: The Facsimiles and Other Issues
Michael D. Rhodes, The Joseph Smith Hypocephalus . . . Twenty Years Later
