From what I know, Hebrew understanding of the universe was more like cosmological beliefs. Here are some key elements of the ancient Hebrew cosmology that I think stand out:
Primordial Waters/Primeval Sea:
The “primeval sea” is the uncreated state, the chaos that preceded
God’s ordering of creation. These are the waters of uncreation where
no life can flourish, no meanings can take root, no order can take
shape. It is the opposite of the good place God is about to bring
about as the first chapter of Genesis unfolds.
Deep (Tehom): The deep sea, the primeval ocean, the “waters below”.
Also, the abyss or the grave. The deep is the place of Job’s leviathan
and the word for the waters of death that sweep in over Pharaoh's
armies after the Hebrews have safely crossed the Red Sea (yam suph,
the sea of reeds).
Genesis 1:2 New King James Version
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of
the waters.
Heaven and Earth:
Heavens (Shamayim): The visible universe above the earth and the
invisible abode of God. The place of the “waters above.”
Earth (erets): Land itself, the whole earth, in particular, the land
of Canaan, the promised land.
Firmament/Dome/Vaulted Sky
The most striking feature of the Old Testament world is the
"firmament," a solid dome which separates "the waters from the waters"
(Gen. 1:6). The Hebrew word translated in the Latin Vulgate as
firmamentum is raqia' whose verb form means "to spread, stamp or beat
out." The material beaten out is not directly specified, but both
biblical and extrabiblical evidence suggests that it is metal. A verb
form of raqia' is used in both of these passages: "And gold leaf was
hammered out..." (Ex. 39:3); and "beaten silver is brought from
Tarshish" (Jer. l0:9). There are indeed figurative uses of this term.
A firmament is part of the first vision of Ezekiel (1:22,26), and the
editors of the evangelical Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
cite this as evidence that the Hebrews did not believe in a literal
sky-dome. It is clear, however, that Ezekiel's throne chariot is the
cosmos in miniature, and the use of raqia' most likely refers to a
solid canopy (it shines "like crystal") than to a limited space.(6)
The idea of the dome or vault of heaven is found in many Old Testament books, > e.g., "God founds his vault upon the earth..." (Amos
9:6). The Hebrew word translated as "vault" is 'aguddah whose verb
form means to "bind, fit, or construct." Commenting on this verse,
Richard S. Cripps states that "here it seems that the 'heavens' are
'bound' or fitted into a solid vault, the ends of which are upon the
earth." We have seen that raqia' and 'aguddah, whose referent is
obviously the same, mean something very different from the empty
spatial expanse that some evangelicals suggest.
Foundations of the Earth:
The earth was thought to be supported or founded upon pillars or foundations (e.g., 1 Samuel 2:8, Job 9:6), which upheld the landmasses and kept the earth stable.
If we disengage ourselves from our own world-view, we can appreciate
the internal logic of the Hebrew cosmology. If we are threatened by
watery chaos from all sides, then a solid sky would be needed to hold
back these ominous seas. If the sky is a solid dome, then it will need
pillars to support it. Furthermore, if the earth is a flat disc
floating on "the deep," then it would make sense for it to have some
support to hold it in place. One finds the idea of physical supports
for heaven in most ancient mythology. One Vedic poet writes of a god
"by whom the awesome sky and earth were made firm, by whom the dome of
the sky was propped up"; and Varuna "pillared both the worlds apart as
the unborn supported heaven" (Rig-veda 10.121.5; 8.41.10).
Waters Above and Below:
Martin Luther’s 1534 German Bible depicted his view of the ‘waters above’ as a ‘cosmic shell’ of liquid water surrounding the entire (geocentric) universe.
Some passages speak of the existence of "waters above" the firmament, separated from the waters below (Genesis 1:6-8, Psalm 148:4). Today, this is often thought to be the division between the waters of the sky (clouds, rain) and the waters of the earth (seas, rivers).
From creation.com:
In Genesis 1:6–8, God created an ‘expanse’ (Hebrew: raqiya רָקִיעַ)
that separated the waters of the deep (verse 2) into two parts—the
waters “under the expanse” and those “above the expanse”. While the
waters below became seas, opinion is divided on the nature of the
waters above.
Four most common views of the ‘expanse/firmament’ (raqiya) and the
‘waters above’ seem to be the following:
Heavenly Sea: According to this view, the biblical writers accepted
the cosmological views of their ancient neighbours who (supposedly)
believed in a flat earth and a solid sky which held back a liquid
ocean above. So, the raqiya refers not to a spacious expanse, but to a
solid dome resting on the earth, and the ‘waters above’ are a sky
ocean.
Pre-Flood Canopy: This view says the raqiya is the atmosphere and the ‘waters above’ are a water-vapour (or ice) canopy that surrounded
the pre-Flood Earth
Cosmic Shell:... that the waters are beyond all the galaxies, surrounding the universe perhaps as a tenuous shell of ice
particles. The raqiya is understood to include all of interstellar
space.
Clouds:
