In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
KJV
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Commentary
Commentary
The foundation of all religion being laid in our relation to God as
our Creator, it was fit that the book of divine revelations which
was intended to be the guide, support, and rule, of religion in
the world, should begin, as it does, with a plain and full account
of the creation of the world--in answer to that first enquiry of a
good conscience, "Where is God my Maker?"
( Job xxxv. 10 ).
Concerning this the pagan philosophers wretchedly blundered,
and became vain in their imaginations, some asserting the world's
eternity and self-existence, others ascribing it to a fortuitous
concourse of atoms: thus "the world by wisdom knew not
God," but took a great deal of pains to lose him. The holy
scripture therefore, designing by revealed religion to maintain
and improve natural religion, to repair the decays of it and supply
the defects of it, since the fall, for the reviving of the
precepts of the law of nature, lays down, at first, this principle
of the unclouded light of nature, That this world was, in the
beginning of time, created by a Being of infinite wisdom and
power, who was himself before all time and all worlds. The
entrance into God's word gives this light, Ps. cxix. 130. .
The first verse of the Bible gives us a surer and better, a more satisfying
and useful, knowledge of the origin of the universe, than
all the volumes of the philosophers. The lively faith of humble
Christians understands this matter better than the elevated
fancy of the greatest wits, Heb. xi. 3 .
We have three things in this chapter:--I. A general idea given us
of the work of creation ver. 1, 2 .
II. A particular account of
the several days' work, registered, as in a journal, distinctly
and in order. The creation of the light the first day, ver. 3-5 ;
of the firmament the second day, ver. 6-8 ;
of the sea, the earth, and its fruits, the third day, ver. 9-13 ;
of the lights of heaven the fourth day, ver. 14-19 ;
of the fish and fowl the fifth day, ver. 20-23 ;
of the beasts, ver. 24, 25 ;
of man, ver. 26-28 ;
and of food for both the sixth day, ver. 29, 30 .
III. The review and approbation of the whole work, ver. 31 .
1 In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the
deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters.
In these verses we have the work of creation
in its epitome and in its embryo.
I. In its epitome, v. 1 ,
where we find, to
our comfort, the first article of our creed,
that God the Father Almighty is the Maker of
heaven and earth, and as such we believe in him.
(1.) The effect produced-- the heaven and
the earth, that is, the world, including the
whole frame and furniture of the universe,
the world and all things therein, Acts xvii. 24 .
The world is a great house, consisting of
upper and lower stories, the structure stately
and magnificent, uniform and convenient,
and every room well and wisely furnished.
It is the visible part of the creation that
Moses here designs to account for; therefore
he mentions not the creation of angels. But
as the earth h as not only its surface adorned
with grass and flowers, but also its bowels
enriched with metals and precious stones
(which partake more of its solid nature and
more valuable, though the creation of
them is not mentioned here), so the heavens
are not only beautified to our eye with glorious
lamps which garnish its outside, of whose
creation we here read, but they are within replenished
with glorious beings, out of our
sight, more celestial, and more surpassing
them in worth and excellency than the gold
or sapphires surpass the lilies of the field.
In the visible world it is easy to observe,
[1.] Great variety, several sorts of beings vastly
differing in their nature and constitution from
each other. Lord, how manifold are thy works, and all good!
[2.] Great beauty. The azure
sky and verdant earth are charming to the
eye of the curious spectator, much more the
ornaments of both. How transcendent then
must the beauty of the Creator be!
[3.] Great exactness and accuracy. To those
that, with the help of microscopes, narrowly
look into the works of nature, they appear
far more fine than any of the works of art.
[4.] Great power. It is not a lump of dead
and inactive matter, but there is virtue, more
or less, in every creature: the earth itself has
a magnetic power.
[5.] Great order, a mutual
dependence of beings, an exact harmony
of motions, and an admirable chain and connection
of causes.
[6.] Great mystery. There
are phenomena in nature which cannot be
solved, secrets which cannot be fathomed nor
accounted for. But from what we see of
heaven and earth we may easily enough infer
the eternal power and Godhead of the great
Creator, and may furnish ourselves with
abundant matter for his praises. And let
our make and place, as men, remind us of
our duty as Christians, which is always to
keep heaven in our eye and the earth under
our feet.
(2.) The author and cause of this great
work--GOD. The Hebrew word is Elohim, which bespeaks,
[1.] The power of God the
Creator. El signifies the strong God; and
what less than almighty strength could bring
all things out of nothing?
[2.] The plurality
of persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. This plural name of God, in
Hebrew, which speaks of him as many though
he is one, was to the Gentiles perhaps a savour
of death unto death, hardening them in
their idolatry; but it is to us a savour of life
unto life, confirming our faith in the doctrine
of the Trinity, which, though but darkly intimated
in the Old Testament, is clearly revealed
in the New. The Son of God, the
eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father, was
with him when he made the world
( Prov. viii. 30 ),
nay, we are often told that the world
was made by him, and nothing made without him, John i. 3, 10; Eph. iii. 9; Col. i. 16; Heb. 1. 2 .
O what high thoughts should
this form in our minds of that great God
whom we draw nigh to in religious worship,
and that great Mediator in whose name we
draw nigh!
(3.) The manner in which this work was
effected: God created it, that is, made it out
of nothing. There was not any pre-existent
matter out of which the world was produced.
The fish and fowl were indeed produced out
of the waters and the beasts and man out of
the earth; but that earth and those waters
were made out of nothing. By the ordinary power
of nature, it is impossible that any
thing should be made out of nothing; no
artificer can work, unless he has something
to work on. But by the almighty power of
God it is not only possible that something
should be made of nothing (the God of nature
is not subject to the laws of nature), but in
the creation it is impossible it should be otherwise, for nothing is more injurious to
the honour of the Eternal Mind than the
supposition of eternal matter. Thus the excellency
of the power is of God and all the glory
is to him.
(4.) When this work was produced: In
the beginning, that is, in the beginning of
time, when that clock was first set a going:
time began with the production of those
beings that are measured by time. Before
the beginning of time there was none but that
Infinite Being that inhabits eternity. Should
we ask why God made the world no sooner,
we should but darken counsel by words without
knowledge; for how could there be sooner
or later in eternity? And he did make it in
the beginning of time, according to his eternal
counsels before all time. The Jewish
Rabbies have a saying, that there were seven
things which God created before the world,
by which they only mean to express the excellency
of these things:--The law, repentance,
paradise, hell, the throne of glory, the
house of the sanctuary, and the name of the
Messiah. But to us it is enough to say, In
the beginning was the Word, John i. 1 .
2. Let us learn hence,
(1.) That atheism
is folly, and atheists are the greatest fools in
nature; for they see there is a world that
could not make itself, and yet they will not
own there is a God that made it. Doubtless,
they are without excuse, but the god of this
world has blinded their minds.
(2.) That
God is sovereign Lord of all by an incontestable
right. If he is the Creator, no doubt he
is the owner and possessor of heaven and
earth.
(3.) That with God all things are possible,
and therefore happy are the people
that have him for their God, and whose help
and hope stand in his name, Ps. cxxi. 2; cxxiv. 8 .
(4.) That the God we serve is
worthy of, and yet is exalted far above, all
blessing and praise, Neh. ix. 5, 6 .
If he
made the world, he needs not our services,
nor can be benefited by them
( Acts xvii. 24, 25 ),
and yet he justly requires them, and deserves
our praise, Rev. iv. 11 .
If all is of
him, all must be to him.
II. Here is the work of creation in its
embryo, v. 2 ,
where we have an account of
the first matter and the first mover.
1. A chaos was the first matter. It is
here called the earth (though the earth, properly
taken, was not made till the third day v. 10 ),
because it did most resemble that
which afterwards was called earth, mere
earth, destitute of its ornaments, such a heavy
unwieldy mass was it; it is also called the
deep, both for its vastness and because the
waters which were afterwards separated from
the earth were now mixed with it. This immense
mass of matter was it out of which
all bodies, even the firmament and visible
heavens themselves, were afterwards produced
by the power of the Eternal Word.
The Creator could have made his work perfect
at first, but by this gradual proceeding
he would show what is, ordinarily, the method
of his providence and grace. Observe the
description of this chaos.
(1.) There was
nothing in it desirable to be seen, for it was without form and void. Tohu and Bohu, confusion and emptiness; so these words are
rendered, Isa. xxxiv. 11 .
It was shapeless,
it was useless, it was without inhabitants,
without ornaments, the shadow or rough
draught of things to come, and not the image
of the things, Heb. x. 1 .
The earth is almost
reduced to the same condition again by the
sin of man, under which the creation groans.
See Jer. iv. 23 , I beheld the earth, and lo it
was without form, and void. To those who
have their hearts in heaven this lower world,
in comparison with that upper, still appears
to be nothing but confusion and emptiness.
There is no true beauty to be seen, no satisfying
fulness to be enjoyed, in this earth, but
in God only.
(2.) If there had been any
thing desirable to be seen, yet there was no
light to see it by; for darkness, thick darkness, was upon the face of the deep. God
did not create this darkness (as he is said to
create the darkness of affliction, Isa. xlv. 7 ),
for it was only the want of light, which yet
could not be said to be wanted till something
was made that might be seen by it; nor needs
the want of it be much complained of, when
there was nothing to be seen but confusion
and emptiness. If the work of grace in the
soul is a new creation, this chaos represents
the state of an unregenerate graceless soul: there is disorder, confusion, and every evil
work; it is empty of all good, for it is without
God; it is dark, it is darkness itself.
This is our condition by nature, till almighty
grace effects a blessed change.
2. The Spirit of God was the first mover:
He moved upon the face of the waters. When
we consider the earth without form and void,
methinks it is like the valley full of dead and
dry bones. Can these live? Can this confused
mass of matter be formed into a beautiful
world? Yes, if a spirit of life from God
enter into it, Ezek. xxxvii. 9 .
Now there is
hope concerning this thing; for the Spirit of
God begins to work, and, if he work, who or
what shall hinder? God is said to make the
world by his Spirit, Ps. xxxiii. 6; Job xxvi. 13 ;
and by the same mighty worker the new
creation is effected. He moved upon the
face of the deep, as Elijah stretched himself
upon the dead child,--as the hen gathers her
chickens under her wings, and hovers over
them, to warm and cherish them, Matt. xxiii. 37 ,--as
the eagle stirs up her nest, and flutters over her young (it is the same word that is
here used), Deut. xxxii. 11 .
Learn hence,
That God is not only the author of all being,
but the fountain of life and spring of motion.
Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did
not quicken it. And this makes it credible
to us that God should raise the dead. That
power which brought such a world as this
out of confusion, emptiness, and darkness, at the beginning of time, can, at the end of
time, bring our vile bodies out of the grave,
though it is a land of darkness as darkness
itself, and without any order ( Job x. 22 ),
and can make them glorious bodies.
3 And God said, Let there be
light: and there was light.
4 And
God saw the light, that it was good:
and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the
light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And the evening and the
morning were the first day.
We have here a further account of the
first day's work, in which observe,
1. That
the first of all visible beings which God
created was light; not that by it he himself
might see to work (for the darkness and
light are both alike to him), but that by it
we might see his works and his glory in
them, and might work our works while it is
day. The works of Satan and his servants
are works of darkness; but he that doeth
truth, and doeth good, cometh to the light,
and coveteth it, that his deeds may be made
manifest, John iii. 21 .
Light is the great
beauty and blessing of the universe. Like
the first-born, it does, of all visible beings,
most resemble its great Parent in purity and
power, brightness and beneficence; it is of
great affinity with a spirit, and is next to it;
though by it we see other things, and are
sure that it is, yet we know not its nature,
nor can describe what it is, or by what way
the light is parted, Job xxxviii. 19, 24 .
By the sight of it let us be led to, and assisted
in, the believing contemplation of him who
is light, infinite and eternal light
( 1 John i. 5 ),
and the Father of lights ( Jam. i. 17 ),
and who dwells in inaccessible light, 1 Tim. vi. 16 .
In the new creation, the first thing
wrought in the soul is light: the blessed
Spirit captives the will and affections by
enlightening the understanding, so coming
into the heart by the door, like the good
shepherd whose own the sheep are, while
sin and Satan, like thieves and robbers, climb
up some other way. Those that by sin were
darkness by grace become light in the world.
2. That the light was made by the word of
God's power. He said, Let there be light; he willed and appointed it, and it was done
immediately: there was light, such a copy as
exactly answered the original idea in the
Eternal Mind. O the power of the word of
God! He spoke, and it was done, done
really, effectually, and for perpetuity, not in
show only, and to serve a present turn, for he commanded, and it stood fast: with him it
was dictum, factum--a word, and a world. The world of God (that is, his will and the
good pleasure of it) is quick and powerful.
Christ is the Word, the essential eternal
Word, and by him the light was produced,
for in him was light, and he is the true light,
the light of the world, John i. 9; ix. 5. .
The divine light which shines in sanctified souls
is wrought by the power of God, the power
of his word and of the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, opening the understanding, scattering
the mists of ignorance and mistake,
and giving the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Christ, as at first, God
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, 2 Cor. iv. 6 .
Darkness would have been
perpetually upon the face of fallen man if the
Son of God had not come, and given us an
understanding, 1 John v. 20 .
3. That the
light which God willed, when it was produced, he
approved of: God saw the light that it was
good. It was exactly as he designed it, and
it was fit to answer the end for which he
designed it. It was useful and profitable;
the world, which now is a palace, would have
been a dungeon without it. It was amiable
and pleasant. Truly the light is sweet ( Eccl. xi. 7 ); it rejoiceth the heart, Prov. xv. 30 .
What God commands he will approve and
graciously accept; he will be well pleased
with the work of his own hands. That is
good indeed which is so in the sight of God,
for he sees not as man sees. If the light
is good, how good is he that is the fountain
of light, from whom we receive it, and to
whom we owe all praise for it and all the
services we do by it!
4. That God divided
the light from the darkness, so put them
asunder as that they could never be joined
together, or reconciled; for what fellowship
has light with darkness? 2 Cor. vi. 14 .
And yet he divided time between them, the day
for light and the night for darkness, in a constant
and regular succession to each other.
Though the darkness was now scattered by
the light, yet it was not condemned to a perpetual
banishment, but takes its turn with
the light, and has its place, because it has its
use; for, as the light of the morning befriends
the business of the day, so the
shadows of the evening befriend the repose
of the night, and draw the curtains about
us, that we may sleep the better. See Job vii. 2 .
God has thus divided time between
light and darkness, because he would daily
remind us that this is a world of mixtures
and changes. In heaven there is perfect
and perpetual light, and no darkness at all;
in hell, utter darkness, and no gleam of light.
In that world between these two there is a great
gulf fixed; but, in this world, they are counterchanged,
and we pass daily from one to
another, that we may learn to expect the
like vicissitudes in the providence of God,
peace and trouble, joy and sorrow, and may
set the one over-against the other, accommodating
ourselves to both as we do to the
light and darkness, bidding both welcome,
and making the best of both.
5. That God
divided them from each other by distinguishing
names: He called the light day, and the
darkness he called night. He gave them
names, as the Lord of both; for the day is his, the night also is his, Ps. lxxiv. 16 .
He is the Lord of time, and will be so, till day
and night shall come to an end, and the
stream of time be swallowed up in the ocean
of eternity. Let us acknowledge God in the
constant succession of day and night, and
consecrate both to his honour, by working
for him every day and resting in him every
night, and meditating in his law day and
night.
6. That this was the first day's
work, and a good day's work it was. The
evening and the morning were the first day. The darkness of the evening was before the
light of the morning, that it might serve for
a foil to it, to set it off, and make it shine
the brighter. This was not only the first
day of the world, but the first day of the
week. I observe it to the honour of that
day, because the new world began on the
first day of the week likewise, in the resurrection
of Christ, as the light of the world,
early in the morning. In him the day-spring
from on high has visited the world;
and happy are we, for ever happy, if that day-star arise in our hearts.
6 And God said, Let there be
a firmament in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the
waters.
7 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.
8 And God
called the firmament Heaven. And
the evening and the morning were
the second day.
We have here an account of the second
day's work, the creation of the firmament, in
which observe,
1. The command of God
concerning it: Let there be a firmament, an expansion, so the Hebrew word signifies, like
a sheet spread, or a curtain drawn out. This
includes all that is visible above the earth,
between it and the third heavens: the air, its
higher, middle, and lower, regions--the celestial
globe, and all the spheres and orbs of
light above: it reaches as high as the place
where the stars are fixed, for that is called
here the firmament of heaven ( v. 14, 15 ),
and as low as the place where the birds fly, for
that also is called the firmament of heaven, v. 20 .
When God had made the light, he
appointed the air to be the receptacle and
vehicle of its beams, and to be as a medium
of communication between the invisible and
the visible world; for, though between heaven
and earth there is an inconceivable distance,
yet there is not an impassable gulf, as there
is between heaven and hell. This firmament
is not a wall of partition, but a way of intercourse.
See Job xxvi. 7; xxxvii. 18; Ps. civ. 3; Amos ix. 6 .
2. The creation of it.
Lest it should seem as if God had only commanded
it to be done, and some one else had
done it, he adds, And God made the firmament. What God requires of us he himself
works in us, or it is not done. He that commands
faith, holiness, and love, creates them
by the power of his grace going along with
his word, that he may have all the praise. Lord, give what thou commandest, and then
command what thou pleasest. The firmament
is said to be the work of God's fingers, Ps. viii. 3 .
Though the vastness of its extent
declares it to be the work of his arm stretched
out, yet the admirable fineness of its constitution
shows that it is a curious piece of art,
the work of his fingers.
3. The use and design
of it--to divide the waters from the
waters, that is, to distinguish between the
waters that are wrapped up in the clouds and
those that cover the sea, the waters in the
air and those in the earth. See the difference
between these two carefully observed, Deut. xi. 10, 11 ,
where Canaan is upon this account
preferred to Egypt, that Egypt was
moistened and made fruitful with the waters
that are under the firmament, but Canaan
with waters from above, out of the firmament,
even the dew of heaven, which tarrieth
not for the sons of men, Mic. v. 7 .
God has,
in the firmament of his power, chambers,
store-chambers, whence he watereth the earth, Ps. civ. 13; lxv. 9, 10 .
He has also treasures,
or magazines, of snow and hail, which
he hath reserved against the day of battle and
war, Job xxxviii. 22, 23 .
O what a great
God is he who has thus provided for the
comfort of all that serve him and the confusion
of all that hate him! It is good having
him our friend, and bad having him our
enemy.
4. The naming of it: He called the
firmament heaven. It is the visible heaven,
the pavement of the holy city; above the
firmament God is said to have his throne
( Ezek. i. 26 ),
for he has prepared it in the
heavens; the heavens therefore are said to
rule, Dan. iv. 26 . Is not God in the height of
heaven? Job xxii. 12 .
Yes, he is, and we
should be led by the contemplation of the
heavens that are in our eye to consider our
Father who is in heaven. The height of the
heavens should remind us of God's supremacy
and the infinite distance there is between
us and him; the brightness of the
heavens and their purity should remind us of
his glory, and majesty, and perfect holiness;
the vastness of the heavens, their encompassing
of the earth, and the influence they have
upon it, should remind us of his immensity
and universal providence.
9 And God said, Let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together
unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God
called the dry land Earth; and the
gathering together of the waters called
he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth
grass, and herb yielding seed after
his kind, and the tree yielding fruit,
whose seed was in itself, after his
kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning
were the third day.
The third day's work is related in these
verses--the forming of the sea and the dry
land, and the making of the earth fruitful.
Hitherto the power of the Creator had been
exerted and employed about the upper part
of the visible word; the light of heaven was
kindled, and the firmament of heaven fixed:
but now he descends to this lower world, the
earth, which was designed for the children of
men, designed both for their habitation and
for their maintenance; and here we have an
account of the fitting of it for both, and building
of their house and the spreading of their
table. Observe,
I. How the earth was prepared to be a
habitation for man, by the gathering of the
waters together, and the making of the dry
land to appear. Thus, instead of the confusion
which there was
( v. 2 )
when earth and
water were mixed in one great mass, behold,
now, there is order, by such a separation as
rendered them both useful. God said, Let
it be so, and it was so; no sooner said than
done.
1. The waters which had covered the
earth were ordered to retire, and to gather
into one place, namely, those hollows which
were fitted and appointed for their reception
and rest. The waters, thus cleared, thus
collected, and thus lodged, in their proper
place, he called seas. Though they are many,
in distant regions, and washing several
shores, yet, either above ground or under
ground, they have communication with each
other, and so they are one, and the common
receptacle of waters, into which all the rivers
flow, Eccl. i. 7 .
Waters and seas often, in
scripture, signify troubles and afflictions, Ps. xlii. 7; lxix. 2, 14, 15 .
God's own
people are not exempted from these in this
world; but it is their comfort that they are
only waters under the heaven (there are none
in heaven), and that they are all in the place
that God has appointed them and within
the bounds that he has set for them. How
the waters were gathered together at first,
and how they are still bound and limited by
the same Almighty had that first confined them,
are elegantly described, Ps. civ. 6-9 ,
and are there mentioned as matter of praise. Those that go down to the sea in ships ought
to acknowledge daily the wisdom, power,
and goodness, of the Creator, in making the
great waters serviceable to man for trade
and commerce; and those that tarry at home must own themselves indebted to him that
keeps the sea with bars and doors in its decreed
place, and stays its proud waves, Job xxxviii. 10, 11 .
2. The dry land was
made to appear, and emerge out of the waters,
and was called earth, and given to the children
of men. The earth, it seems, was in being
before; but it was of no use, because it was
under water. Thus many of God's gifts are
received in vain, because they are buried;
make them to appear, and they become serviceable.
We who, to this day, enjoy the
benefit of the dry land (though, since this,
it was once deluged, and dried again) must
own ourselves tenants to, and dependents
upon, that God whose hands formed the dry
land, Ps. xcv. 5; Jonah i. 9 .
II. How the earth was furnished for the
maintenance and support of man, v. 11, 12 .
Present provision was now made, by the immediate
products of the upstart earth, which,
in obedience to God's command, was no
sooner made than it became fruitful, and
brought forth grass for the cattle and herb
for the service of man. Provision was likewise
made for time to come, by the perpetuating
of the several kinds of vegetables,
which are numerous, various, and all curious,
and every one having its seed in itself after its
kind, that, during the continuance of man
upon the earth, food might be fetched out of
the earth for his use and benefit. Lord,
what is man, that he is thus visited and regarded --that
such care should be taken, and
such provision made, for the support and
preservation of those guilty and obnoxious
lives which have been a thousand times
forfeited! Observe here,
1. That not only
the earth is the Lord's, but the fulness thereof, and he is the rightful owner and sovereign
disposer, not only of it, but of all its furniture.
The earth was emptiness ( v. 2 ),
but now, by a word's speaking, it has become
full of God's riches, and his they are still-- his
corn and his wine, his wool and his flax, Hos. ii. 9 .
Though the use of them is allowed
to us, the property still remains in
him, and to his service and honour they
must be used.
2. That common providence
is a continued creation, and in it our Father
worketh hitherto. The earth still remains
under the efficacy of this command, to bring
forth grass, and herbs, and its annual products;
and though, being according to the
common course of nature, these are not
standing miracles, yet they are standing instances
of the unwearied power and unexhausted
goodness of the world's great Maker
and Master.
3. That though God, ordinarily,
makes use of the agency of second
causes, according to their nature, yet he
neither needs them nor is tied to them; for,
though the precious fruits of the earth are
usually brought forth by the influences of
the sun and moon
( Deut. xxxiii. 14 ),
yet here
we find the earth bearing a great abundance of fruit, probable ripe fruit, before the sun
and moon were made.
4. That it is good to
provide things necessary before we have
occasion to use them: before the beasts and
man were made, here were grass and herbs
prepared for them. God thus dealt wisely
and graciously with man; let not man then
be foolish and unwise for himself.
5. That
God must have the glory of all the benefit
we receive from the products of the earth,
either for food or physic. It is he that hears
the heavens when they hear the earth, Hos. ii. 21, 22 .
And if we have, through grace, an
interest in him who is the fountain, when
the streams are dried up and the fig-tree doth
not blossom we may rejoice in him.
14 And God said, Let there be
lights in the firmament of the heaven
to divide the day from the night; and
let them be for signs, and for seasons,
and for days, and years:
15 And let
them be for lights in the firmament
of the heaven to give light upon the
earth: and it was so.
16 And God
made two great lights; the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser
light to rule the night: he made the
stars also.
17 And God set them in
the firmament of the heaven to give
light upon the earth,
18 And to
rule over the day and over the night,
and to divide the light from the darkness:
and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning
were the fourth day.
This is the history of the fourth day's
work, the creating of the sun, moon, and
stars, which are here accounted for, not as
they are in themselves and in their own nature,
to satisfy the curious, but as they are
in relation to this earth, to which they serve
as lights; and this is enough to furnish us
with matter for praise and thanksgiving.
Holy Job mentions this as an instance of the
glorious power of God, that by the Spirit he
hath garnished the heavens ( Job xxvi. 13 );
and here we have an account of that garniture
which is not only so much the beauty of
the upper world, but so much the blessing of
this lower; for though heaven is high, yet
has it respect to this earth, and therefore
should have respect from it. Of the creation
of the lights of heaven we have an account,
I. In general, v. 14, 15 ,
where we have
1. The command given concerning them: Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven. God had said, Let there be light ( v. 3 ),
and there was light; but this was, as it were, a
chaos of light, scattered and confused: now
it was collected and modelled, and made into
several luminaries, and so rendered both
more glorious and more serviceable. God is
the God of order, and not of confusion; and,
as he is light, so he is the Father and former
of lights. Those lights were to be in the
firmament of heaven, that vast expanse which
encloses the earth, and is conspicuous to all;
for no man, when he has lighted a candle,
puts it under a bushel, but on a candlestick ( Luke viii. 16 ),
and a stately golden candlestick
the firmament of heaven is, from which
these candles give light to all that are in the
house. The firmament itself is spoken of as
having a brightness of its own
( Dan. xii. 3 ),
but this was not sufficient to give light to the
earth; and perhaps for this reason it is not
expressly said of the second day's work, in
which the firmament was made, that it was
good, because, till it was adorned with these
lights on the fourth day, it had not become
serviceable to man.
2. The use they were
intended to be of to this earth.
(1.) They
must be for the distinction of times, of day
and night, summer and winter, which are
interchanged by the motion of the sun, whose
rising makes day, his setting night, his approach
towards our tropic summer, his recess
to the other winter: and thus, under the
sun, there is a season to every purpose, Eccl. iii. 1 .
(2.) They must be for the direction of
actions. They are for signs of the change
of weather, that the husbandman may order
his affairs with discretion, foreseeing, by the
face of the sky, when second causes have begun
to work, whether it will be fair or foul, Matt. xvi. 2, 3 .
They do also give light upon
the earth, that we may walk ( John xi. 9 ),
and work ( John ix. 4 ).
according as the duty of
every day requires. The lights of heaven do
not shine for themselves, nor for the world
of spirits above, who need them not; but
they shine for us, for our pleasure and advantage.
Lord, what is man, that he should
be thus regarded! Ps. viii. 3, 4 .
How ungrateful
and inexcusable are we, if, when God
has set up these lights for us to work by, we
sleep, or play, or trifle away the time of business,
and neglect the great work we were
sent into the world about! The lights of
heaven are made to serve us, and they do it
faithfully, and shine in their season, without
fail: but we are set as lights in this world to
serve God; and do we in like manner answer
the end of our creation? No, we do
not, our light does not shine before God as
his lights shine before us, Matt. v. 14 .
We burn our Master's candles, but do not mind
our Master's work.
1. Observe, The lights of heaven are the
sun, moon, and stars; and all these are the
work of God's hands.
(1.) The sun is
the greatest light of all, more than a million
times greater than the earth, and the
most glorious and useful of all the lamps
of heaven, a noble instance of the Creator's
wisdom, power, and goodness, and
an invaluable blessing to the creatures of
this lower world. Let us learn from Ps. xix. 1-6 how to give unto God the glory due
unto his name, as the Maker of the sun.
(2.) The moon is a less light, and yet is here
reckoned one of the greater lights, because
though, in regard to its magnitude and borrowed
light, it is inferior to many of the stars,
yet, by virtue of its office, as ruler of the
night, and in respect of its usefulness to the
earth, it is more excellent than they. Those
are most valuable that are most serviceable;
and those are the greater lights, not that
have the best gifts, but that humbly and
faithfully do the most good with them. Whosoever will be great among you, let him be
your minister, Matt. xx. 26 .
(3.) He made the
stars also, which are here spoken of as they
appear to vulgar eyes, without distinguishing
between the planets and the fixed stars, or
accounting for their number, nature, place,
magnitude, motions, or influences; for the
scriptures were written, not to gratify our
curiosity and make us astronomers, but to lead
us to God, and make us saints. Now these
lights are said to rule ( v. 16, 18 );
not that
they have a supreme dominion, as God has,
but they are deputy-governors, rulers under
him. Here the less light, the moon, is said
to rule the night; but in Ps. cxxxvi. 9 the stars are mentioned as sharers in that government; The moon and stars to rule by
night. No more is meant than that they give light, Jer. xxxi. 35 .
The best and most
honourable way of ruling is by giving light
and doing good: those command respect that
live a useful life, and so shine as lights.
2. Learn from all this,
(1.) The sin and
folly of that ancient idolatry, the worshipping
of the sun, moon, and stars, which,
some think, took rise, or countenance at
least, from some broken traditions in the patriarchal
age concerning the rule and dominion
of the lights of heaven. But the
account here given of them plainly shows
that they are both God's creatures and man's
servants; and therefore it is both a great
affront to God and a great reproach to ourselves
to make deities of them and give them
divine honours. See Deut. iv. 19 .
(2.) The
duty and wisdom of daily worshipping that
God who made all these things, and made
them to be that to us which they are. The
revolutions of the day and night oblige us
to offer the solemn sacrifice of prayer and
praise every morning and evening.
20 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.
21 And God
created great whales, and every living
creature that moveth, which the waters
brought forth abundantly, after their
kind, and every winged fowl after his
kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the
waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply
in the earth.
23 And the evening and the
morning were the fifth day.
Each day, hitherto, has produced very
noble and excellent beings, which we can
never sufficiently admire; but we do not
read of the creation of any living creature
till the fifth day, of which these verses give
us an account. The work of creation not
only proceeded gradually from one thing to
another, but rose and advanced gradually
from that which was less excellent to that
which was more so, teaching us to press
towards perfection and endeavour that our
last works may be our best works. It was
on the fifth day that the fish and fowl were
created, and both out of the waters. Though
there is one kind of flesh of fishes, and
another of birds, yet they were made together,
and both out of the waters; for the power of
the first Cause can produce very different
effects from the same second causes. Observe,
1. The making of the fish and fowl,
at first, v. 20, 21 .
God commanded them to
be produced. He said, Let the waters bring
forth abundantly; not as if the waters had
any productive power of their own, but, "Let
them be brought into being, the fish in the
waters and the fowl out of them." This
command he himself executed: God created
great whales, &c. Insects, which perhaps
are as various and as numerous as any species
of animals, and their structure as curious,
were part of this day's work, some of them
being allied to the fish and others to the
fowl. Mr. Boyle (I remember) says he admires
the Creator's wisdom and power as
much in an ant as in an elephant. Notice is
here taken of the various sorts of fish and
fowl, each after their kind, and of the great
numbers of both that were produced, for the
waters brought forth abundantly; and particular
mention if made of great whales, the
largest of fishes, whose bulk and strength,
exceeding that of any other animal, are remarkable
proofs of the power and greatness
of the Creator. The express notice here
taken of the whale, above all the rest, seems
sufficient to determine what animal is meant
by the Leviathan, Job xli. :1 .
The curious
formation of the bodies of animals, their different
sizes, shapes, and natures, with the
admirable powers of the sensitive life with
which they are endued, when duly considered,
serve, not only to silence and shame the
objections of atheists and infidels, but to
raise high thoughts and high praises of God
in pious and devout souls, Ps. civ. 25 ,
&c.
2. The blessing of them, in order to their
continuance. Life is a wasting thing. Its
strength is not the strength of stones. It is
a candle that will burn out, if it be not first
blown out; and therefore the wise Creator
not only made the individuals, but provided for the propagation of the several kinds; God
blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, v. 22 .
God will bless his own works, and
not forsake them; and what he does shall be
for a perpetuity, Eccl. iii. 14 .
The power of
God's providence preserves all things, as
at first his creating power produced them.
Fruitfulness is the effect of God's blessing
and must be ascribed to it; the multiplying
of the fish and fowl, from year to year, is still
the fruit of this blessing. Well, let us give
to God the glory of the continuance of these
creatures to this day for the benefit of man.
See Job xii. 7, 9 .
It is a pity that fishing
and fowling, recreations innocent in themselves,
should ever be abused to divert any
from God and their duty, while they are
capable of being improved to lead us to the
contemplation of the wisdom, power, and
goodness, of him that made all these things,
and to engage us to stand in awe of him, as
the fish and fowl do of us.
24 And God said, Let the earth
bring forth the living creature after
his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,
and beast of the earth after his kind:
and it was so.
25 And God made
the beast of the earth after his kind,
and cattle after their kind, and every
thing that creepeth upon the earth
after his kind: and God saw that it
was good.
We have here the first part of the sixth
day's work. The sea was, the day before,
replenished with its fish, and the air with its
fowl; and this day were made the beasts of
the earth, the cattle, and the creeping things
that pertain to the earth. Here, as before,
1. The Lord gave the word; he said, Let
the earth bring forth, not as if the earth had
any such prolific virtue as to produce these
animals, or as if God resigned his creating
power to it; but, "Let these creatures now
come into being upon the earth, and out of
it, in their respective kinds, conformable to
the ideas of them in the divine counsels concerning
their creation."
2. He also did the
work; he made them all after their kind,
not only of divers shapes, but of divers natures,
manners, food, and fashions--some to
be tame about the house, others to be wild
in the fields--some living upon grass and
herbs, others upon flesh--some harmless, and
others ravenous--some bold, and others timorous--some
for man's service, and not his
sustenance, as the horse--others for his sustenance,
and not his service, as the sheep--others
for both, as the ox--and some for
neither, as the wild beasts. In all this appears
the manifold wisdom of the Creator.
26 And God said, Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created
he him; male and female created he
them.
28 And God blessed them,
and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth.
We have here the second part of the sixth
day's work, the creation of man, which we are,
in a special manner, concerned to take notice
of, that we may know ourselves. Observe,
I. That man was made last of all the creatures,
that it might not be suspected that he
had been, any way, a helper to God in the
creation of the world: that question must be
for ever humbling and mortifying to him, Where wast thou, or any of thy kind, when I
laid the foundations of the earth? Job xxxviii. 4 .
Yet it was both an honour and a favour to
him that he was made last: an honour, for
the method of the creation was to advance
from that which was less perfect to that which
was more so; and a favour, for it was not fit
he should be lodged in the palace designed
for him till it was completely fitted up and
furnished for his reception. Man, as soon
as he was made, had the whole visible creation
before him, both to contemplate and to take
the comfort of. Man was made the same
day that the beasts were, because his body
was made of the same earth with theirs; and,
while he is in the body, he inhabits the same
earth with them. God forbid that by indulging
the body and the desires of it we
should make ourselves like the beasts that
perish!
II. That man's creation was a more signal
and immediate act of divine wisdom and
power than that of the other creatures. The
narrative of it is introduced with something
of solemnity, and a manifest distinction from
the rest. Hitherto, it had been said, "Let
there be light," and "Let there be a firmament,"
and "Let the earth, or waters, bring
forth" such a thing; but now the word of
command is turned into a word of consultation,
" Let us make man, for whose sake the
rest of the creatures were made: this is a
work we must take into our own hands."
In the former he speaks as one having authority,
in this as one having affection; for
his delights were with the sons of men, Prov. viii. 31 .
It should seem as if this were the
work which he longed to be at; as if he had
said, "Having at last settled the preliminaries,
let us now apply ourselves to the
business, Let us make man. " Man was to be
a creature different from all that had been hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and
earth, must be put together in him, and he
must be allied to both worlds. And therefore
God himself not only undertakes to make
him, but is pleased so to express himself as
if he called a council to consider of the
making of him: Let us make man. The
three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, consult about it and concur in
it, because man, when he was made, was to
be dedicated and devoted to Father, Son and
Holy Ghost. Into that great name we are,
with good reason, baptized, for to that great
name we owe our being. Let him rule man
who said, Let us make man.
III. That man was made in God's image
and after his likeness, two words to express
the same thing and making each other the
more expressive; image and likeness denote
the likest image, the nearest resemblance of
any of the visible creatures. Man was not
made in the likeness of any creature that
went before him, but in the likeness of his
Creator; yet still between God and man
there is an infinite distance. Christ only is
the express image of God's person, as the
Son of his Father, having the same nature.
It is only some of God's honour that is put
upon man, who is God's image only as the
shadow in the glass, or the king's impress
upon the coin. God's image upon man consists
in these three things:--
1. In his nature
and constitution, not those of his body (for
God has not a body), but those of his soul.
This honour indeed God has put upon the
body of man, that the Word was made flesh,
the Son of God was clothed with a body like
ours and will shortly clothe ours with a glory
like that of his. And this we may safely say,
That he by whom God made the worlds, not
only the great world, but man the little
world, formed the human body, at the first,
according to the platform he designed for
himself in the fulness of time. But it is the
soul, the great soul, of man, that does especially
bear God's image. The soul is a spirit,
an intelligent immortal spirit, an influencing
active spirit, herein resembling God, the Father
of Spirits, and the soul of the world. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. The soul of man, considered in its three
noble faculties, understanding, will, and active
power, is perhaps the brightest clearest looking-glass
in nature, wherein to see God.
2. In his place and authority: Let us make man
in our image, and let him have dominion. As
he has the government of the inferior creatures,
he is, as it were, God's representative,
or viceroy, upon earth; they are not capable
of fearing and serving God, therefore God
has appointed them to fear and serve man.
Yet his government of himself by the freedom
of his will has in it more of God's image
than his government of the creatures.
3. In
his purity and rectitude. God's image upon
man consists in knowledge, righteousness,
and true holiness, Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10 .
He was upright, Eccl. vii. 29 .
He had an
habitual conformity of all his natural powers
to the whole will of God. His understanding
saw divine things clearly and truly, and
there were no errors nor mistakes in his
knowledge. His will complied readily and
universally with the will of God, without reluctancy
or resistance. His affections were
all regular, and he had no inordinate appetites
or passions. His thoughts were easily
brought and fixed to the best subjects, and
there was no vanity nor ungovernableness in
them. All the inferior powers were subject
to the dictates and directions of the superior,
without any mutiny or rebellion. Thus holy,
thus happy, were our first parents, in having
the image of God upon them. And this
honour, put upon man at first, is a good
reason why we should not speak ill one of
another
( Jam. iii. 9 ),
nor do ill one to another
( Gen. ix. 6 ),
and a good reason why we should
not debase ourselves to the service of sin, and
why we should devote ourselves to God's
service. But how art thou fallen, O son of
the morning! How is this image of God
upon man defaced! How small are the remains
of it, and how great the ruins of it!
The Lord renew it upon our souls by his
sanctifying grace!
IV. That man was made male and female,
and blessed with the blessing of fruitfulness
and increase. God said, Let us make man, and immediately it follows, So God created
man; he performed what he resolved. With
us saying and doing are two things; but they
are not so with God. He created him male
and female, Adam and Eve--Adam first, out
of earth, and Eve out of his side, ch. ii .
It should seem that of the rest of the creatures
God made many couples, but of man did not
he make one? ( Mal. ii. 15 ),
though he had the
residue of the Spirit, whence Christ gathers
an argument against divorce, Matt. xix. 4, 5 .
Our first father, Adam, was confined to one
wife; and, if he had put her away, there was
no other for him to marry, which plainly intimated
that the bond of marriage was not to
be dissolved at pleasure. Angels were not
made male and female, for they were not to
propagate their kind
( Luke xx. 34-36 );
but man was made so, that the nature might be
propagated and the race continued. Fires
and candles, the luminaries of this lower
world, because they waste, and go out, have
a power to light more; but it is not so with
the lights of heaven: stars do not kindle
stars. God made but one male and one female,
that all the nations of men might know
themselves to be made of one blood, descendants
from one common stock, and might
thereby be induced to love one another.
God, having made them capable of transmitting
the nature they had received, said to
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
the earth. Here he gave them,
1. A large
inheritance: Replenish the earth; it is this
that is bestowed upon the children of men. They were made to dwell upon the face of all
the earth, Acts xvii. 26 .
This is the place in
which God has set man to be the servant of
his providence in the government of the inferior
creatures, and, as it were, the intelligence
of this orb; to be the receiver of God's
bounty, which other creatures live upon, but
do not know it; to be likewise the collector
of his praises in this lower world, and to pay
them into the exchequer above
( Ps. cxlv. 10 );
and, lastly, to be a probationer for a better
state.
2. A numerous lasting family, to enjoy
this inheritance, pronouncing a blessing
upon them, in virtue of which their posterity
should extend to the utmost corners of the
earth and continue to the utmost period of
time. Fruitfulness and increase depend upon
the blessing of God: Obed-edom had eight
sons, for God blessed him, 1 Chron. xxvi. 5 .
It is owing to this blessing, which God commanded
at first, that the race of mankind is
still in being, and that as one generation passeth
away another cometh.
V. That God gave to man, when he had
made him, a dominion over the inferior
creatures, over the fish of the sea and over the
fowl of the air. Though man provides for
neither, he has power over both, much more over every living thing that moveth upon the
earth, which are more under his care and
within his reach. God designed hereby to
put an honour upon man, that he might find
himself the more strongly obliged to bring
honour to his Maker. This dominion is
very much diminished and lost by the fall;
yet God's providence continues so much of it
to the children of men as is necessary to the
safety and support of their lives, and God's
grace has given to the saints a new and
better title to the creature than that which
was forfeited by sin; for all is ours if we are
Christ's, 1 Cor. iii. 22 .
29 And God said, Behold, I have
given you every herb bearing seed,
which is upon the face of all the
earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it
shall be for meat.
30 And to
every beast of the earth, and to every
fowl of the air, and to every thing
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green
herb for meat: and it was so.
We have here the third part of the sixth
day's work, which was not any new creation,
but a gracious provision of food for all flesh, Ps. cxxxvi. 25 .
He that made man and
beast thus took care to preserve both, Ps. xxxvi. 6 .
Here is,
I. Food provided for man, v. 29 .
Herbs and fruits must be his meat, including corn
and all the products of the earth; these were
allowed him, but (it should seem) not flesh,
till after the flood, ch. ix. 3 .
And before the
earth was deluged, much more before it was
cursed for man's sake, its fruits, no doubt,
were more pleasing to the taste and more
strengthening and nourishing to the body
than marrow and fatness, and all the portion
of the king's meat, are now. See here,
1. That which should make us humble. As we
were made out of the earth, so we are maintained
out of it. Once indeed men did eat
angels' food, bread from heaven; but they
died
( John vi. 49 );
it was to them but as
food out of the earth, Ps. civ. 14 .
There is
meat that endures to everlasting life; the
Lord evermore give us this.
2. That which
should make us thankful. The Lord is for
the body; from him we receive all the supports
and comforts of this life, and to him
we must give thanks. He gives us all things
richly to enjoy, not only for necessity, but
plenty, dainties, and varieties, for ornament
and delight. How much are we indebted!
How careful should we be, as we live upon
God's bounty, to live to his glory!
3. That
which should make us temperate and content
with our lot. Though Adam had dominion
given him over fish and fowl, yet God
confined him, in his food, to herbs and
fruits; and he never complained of it.
Though afterwards he coveted forbidden
fruit, for the sake of the wisdom and knowledge
he promised himself from it, yet we
never read that he coveted forbidden flesh.
If God give us food for our lives, let us not,
with murmuring Israel, ask food for our
lusts, Ps. lxxviii. 18 ;
see Dan. i. 15 .
II. Food provided for the beasts, v. 30 . Doth God take care for oxen? Yes, certainly,
he provides food convenient for them,
and not for oxen only, which were used in
his sacrifices and man's service, but even the
young lions and the young ravens are the
care of his providence; they ask and have
their meat from God. Let us give to God
the glory of his bounty to the inferior creatures,
that all are fed, as it were, at his table,
every day. He is a great housekeeper, a
very rich and bountiful one, that satisfies the
desire of every living thing. Let this encourage
God's people to cast their care upon
him, and not to be solicitous respecting what
they shall eat and what they shall drink.
He that provided for Adam without his
care, and still provides for all the creatures
without their care, will not let those that
trust him want any good thing, Matt. vi. 26 .
He that feeds his birds will not starve his
babes.
31 And God saw every thing that
he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the
morning were the sixth day.
We have here the approbation and conclusion
of the whole work of creation. As for
God, his work is perfect; and if he begin
he will also make an end, in providence and
grace, as well as here in creation. Observe,
I. The review God took of his work: He saw every thing that he had made. So he
does still; all the works of his hands are
under his eye. He that made all sees all;
he that made us sees us, Ps. cxxxix. 1-16 .
Omniscience cannot be separated from omnipotence. Known unto God are all his works, Acts xv. 18 .
But this was the Eternal
Mind's solemn reflection upon the copies of
its own wisdom and the products of its own
power. God has hereby set us an example
of reviewing our works. Having given us a
power of reflection, he expects we should
use that power, see our way
( Jer. ii. 23 ),
and think of it, Ps. cxix. 59 .
When we have
finished a day's work, and are entering upon
the rest of the night, we should commune
with our own hearts about what we have
been doing that day; so likewise when we
have finished a week's work, and are entering
upon the sabbath-rest, we should thus
prepare to meet our God; and when we are
finishing our life's work, and are entering
upon our rest in the grave, that is a time to
bring to remembrance, that we may die repenting,
and so take leave of it.
II. The complacency God took in his work.
When we come to review our works we find,
to our shame, that much has been very bad;
but, when God reviewed his, all was very
good. He did not pronounce it good till he
had seen it so, to teach us not to answer a
matter before we hear it. The work of
creation was a very good work. All that God
made was well-made, and there was no flaw
nor defect in it.
1. It was good. Good, for
it is all agreeable to the mind of the Creator,
just as he would have it to be; when the
transcript came to be compared with the
great original, it was found to be exact, no
errata in it, not one misplaced stroke. Good,
for it answers the end of its creation, and is
fit for the purpose for which it was designed.
Good, for it is serviceable to man, whom God
had appointed lord of the visible creation.
Good, for it is all for God's glory; there is that
in the whole visible creation which is a demonstration
of God's being and perfections, and
which tends to beget, in the soul of man, a
religious regard to him and veneration of
him.
2. It was very good. Of each day's
work (except the second) it was said that it
was good, but now, it is very good. For,
(1.) Now man was made, who was the chief of
the ways of God, who was designed to be the
visible image of the Creator's glory and the
mouth of the creation in his praises.
(2.) Now
all was made; every part was good, but all
together very good. The glory and goodness,
the beauty and harmony, of God's works,
both of providence and grace, as this of creation,
will best appear when they are perfected.
When the top-stone is brought forth we shall
cry, Grace, grace, unto it, Zech. iv. 7 .
Therefore judge nothing before the time.
III. The time when this work was concluded: The evening and the morning were the
sixth day; so that in six days God made the
world. We are not to think but that God
could have made the world in an instant.
He said that, Let there be light, and there was
light, could have said, "Let there be a
world," and there would have been a world, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as at
the resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 52 .
But he did
it in six days, that he might show himself a
free-agent, doing his own work both in his
own way and in his own time,--that his wisdom,
power, and goodness, might appear to
us, and be meditated upon by us, the more
distinctly,--and that he might set us an example
of working six days and resting the
seventh; it is therefore made the reason of
the fourth commandment. So much would
the sabbath conduce to the keeping up of religion
in the world that God had an eye to it
in the timing of his creation. And now, as
God reviewed his work, let us review our
meditations upon it, and we shall find them
very lame and defective, and our praises low
and flat; let us therefore stir up ourselves,
and all that is within us, to worship him that
made the heaven, earth, and sea, and the
fountains of waters, according to the tenour
of the everlasting gospel, which is preached
to every nation, Rev. xiv. 6, 7 .
All his works,
in all places of his dominion, do bless him;
and, therefore, bless thou the Lord, O my soul!
INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS
This book, in the Hebrew copies of the Bible, and by the Jewish writers, is generally called Bereshith, which signifies "in the beginning", being the first word of it; as the other four books of Moses are also called from their initial words. In the Syriac and Arabic versions, the title of this book is "The Book of the Creation", because it begins with an account of the creation of all things; and is such an account, and so good an one, as is not to be met with anywhere else: the Greek version calls it Genesis, and so we and other versions from thence; and that because it treats of the generation of all things, of the heavens, and the earth, and all that are in them, and of the genealogy of men: it treats of the first men, of the patriarchs before the flood, and after it to the times of Joseph. It is called the "first" book of Moses, because there are four more that follow; the name the Jewish Rabbins give to the whole is hrwt yvmwx hvmx, "the five fifths of the law", to which the Greek word "pentateuch" answers; by which we commonly call these books, they being but one volume, consisting of five parts, of which this is the first. And that they were all written by Moses is generally believed by Jews and Christians. Some atheistical persons have suggested the contrary; our countryman Hobbes {a} would have it, that these books are called his, not from his being the author of them, but from his being the subject of them; not because they were written by him, but because they treat of him: but certain it is that Moses both wrote them, and was read, as he was in the Jewish synagogues, every sabbath day, which can relate to no other writings but these, Joh 1:45. And Spinosa, catching at some doubts raised by Aben Ezra on De 1:1 concerning some passages which seemed to him to have been added by another hand, forms objections against Moses being the author of the book of Genesis; which are sufficiently answered by Carpzovius {b}. Nor can Ezra be the author of the Pentateuch, as Spinosa suspects; since it is plain these writings were in being before his time, in the times of Josiah, Amaziah, yea, of David, and also of Joshua, 2Ch 34:14 nay, they are even referred to in the book of Ezra as the writings of Moses, Ezr 3:2 to which may be added, in proof of the same, De 31:9. Nor are there any other writings of his authentic; what are ascribed to him, as the Analepsis of Moses, his Apocalypse, and his Last Will and Testament, are apocryphal. That this book of Genesis particularly was written by him, is evident from the testimony of Philip, and even of our Lord Jesus Christ, who both testify that he wrote concerning the Messiah, Joh 1:45 as he did in this book, where he speaks of him as the seed of the woman that should break the serpent's head; as the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed; and as the Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the people should be, Ge 3:15. Nor is there any reason to believe that he wrote this book from the annals of the patriarchs, since it does not appear, nor is it very probable, that they had any; nor from traditions delivered down from one to another, from father to son, which is more probable, considering the length of the lives of the patriarchs: but yet such a variety of particulars respecting times, places, persons, their genealogies and circumstances, so nicely and exactly given, can scarcely be thought to be the fruit of memory; and much less is it to be imagined that he was assisted in it by Gabriel, when he lived in solitude in Midian: but it is best of all to ascribe it to divine inspiration, as all Scripture is by the apostle, 2Ti 3:16 for who else but God could have informed him of the creation, and the manner and order in which every creature was brought into being, with a multitude of things recorded in this book? the design of which is to lead men into the knowledge and worship of the one true God, the Creator of all things, and of the origin of mankind, the fall of our first parents, and their posterity in them; and to point at the means and method of the recovery of man by the Messiah, the promised seed; and to give an account of the state and case of the church of God, in the times of the patriarchs, both before and after the flood, from Adam, in the line of Seth, to Noah; and from Noah to the times of Joseph, in whose death it ends: and, according to Usher {c}, it contains an history of two thousand, three hundred, and sixty nine years.
{a} Leviath. par. 3. c. 33. {b} Introduct. ad Libr. Bib. V. T. c. 4. sect. 2. {c} Annal. Vet. Test. p. 17.
INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 1
This chapter contains an account of the creation of the universe, and all things in it; asserts the creation of the heaven and earth in general, and describes the state and condition of the earth in its first production, Ge 1:1 and then proceeds to declare the work of each of the six days of creation, and to give an account of light, its separation from darkness and the names of both, the work of the first day, Ge 1:3 of the firmament, its use and name, the work of the second day, Ge 1:6 of the appearance of the earth, and the production of grass, herbs, and trees in the earth, the work of the third day, Ge 1:9 of the sun, moon, and stars, their situation, and use, the work of the fourth day, Ge 1:14 of the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, the work of the fifth day, Ge 1:19 of all kinds of cattle, and beasts, and creeping things, Ge 1:24 and then of man, created male and female, after the image of God, having a grant of dominion over the rest of the creatures, the fruit of divine consultation, Ge 1:26 and of a provision of food for man and beast, Ge 1:29. And the chapter is concluded with a survey God took of all his works, and his approbation of them; all which were the work of the sixth day, and closes the account of the creation in that space of time, Ge 1:31.
Ver. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. By the heaven some understand the supreme heaven, the heaven of heavens, the habitation of God, and of the holy angels; and this being made perfect at once, no mention is after made of it, as of the earth; and it is supposed that the angels were at this time created, since they were present at the laying of the foundation of the earth,
Job 38:6 but rather the lower and visible heavens are meant, at least are not excluded, that is, the substance of them; as yet being imperfect and unadorned; the expanse not yet made, or the ether and air not yet stretched out; nor any light placed in them, or adorned with the sun, moon, and stars: so the earth is to be understood, not of that properly so called, as separated from the waters, that is, the dry land afterwards made to appear; but the whole mass of earth and water before their separation, and when in their unformed and unadorned state, described in the next verse: in short, these words represent the visible heavens and the terraqueous globe, in their chaotic state, as they were first brought into being by almighty power. The h prefixed to both words is, as Aben Ezra observes, expressive of notification or demonstration, as pointing at "those" heavens, and "this earth"; and shows that things visible are here spoken of, whatever is above us, or below us to be seen: for in the Arabic language, as he also observes, the word for "heaven", comes from one which signifies high or above {a}; as that for "earth" from one that signifies low and beneath, or under {b}. Now it was the matter or substance of these that was first created; for the word
ta set before them signifies substance, as both Aben Ezra and {c} Kimchi affirm. Maimonides {d} observes, that this particle, according to their wise men, is the same as "with"; and then the sense is, God created with the heavens whatsoever are in the heavens, and with the earth whatsoever are in the earth; that is, the substance of all things in them; or all things in them were seminally together: for so he illustrates it by an husbandman sowing seeds of divers kinds in the earth, at one and the same time; some of which come up after one day, and some after two days, and some after three days, though all sown together. These are said to be "created", that is, to be made out of nothing; for what pre-existent matter to this chaos could there be out of which they could be formed? And the apostle says, "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear", Heb 11:3. And though this word is sometimes used, and even in this chapter, of the production of creatures out of pre-existent matter, as in Ge 1:21 yet, as Nachmanides observes, there is not in the holy language any word but this here used, by which is signified the bringing anything into being out of nothing; and many of the Jewish interpreters, as Aben Ezra, understand by creation here, a production of something into being out of nothing; and Kimchi says {e} that creation is a making some new thing, and a bringing something out of nothing: and it deserves notice, that this word is only used of God; and creation must be the work of God, for none but an almighty power could produce something out of nothing. The word used is "Elohim", which some derive from another, which signifies power, creation being an act of almighty power: but it is rather to be derived from the root in the Arabic language, which signifies to worship {f}, God being the object of all religious worship and adoration; and very properly does Moses make use of this appellation here, to teach us, that he who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth is the sole object of worship; as he was of the worship of the Jewish nation, at the head of which Moses was. It is in the plural number, and being joined to a verb of the singular, is thought by many to be designed to point unto us the mystery of a plurality, or trinity of persons in the unity of the divine essence: but whether or no this is sufficient to support that doctrine, which is to be established without it; yet there is no doubt to be made, that all the three Persons in the Godhead were concerned in the creation of all things, see Ps 33:6. The Heathen poet Orpheus has a notion somewhat similar to this, who writes, that all things were made by one Godhead of three names, and that this God is all things {g}: and now all these things, the heaven and the earth, were made by God "in the beginning", either in the beginning of time, or when time began, as it did with the creatures, it being nothing but the measure of a creature's duration, and therefore could not be until such existed; or as Jarchi interprets it, in the beginning of the creation, when God first began to create; and is best explained by our Lord, "the beginning of the creation which God created", Mr 13:19 and the sense is, either that as soon as God created, or the first he did create were the heavens and the earth; to which agrees the Arabic version; not anything was created before them: or in connection with the following words, thus, "when first", or "in the beginning", when "God created the heavens and the earth", then "the earth was without form", &c {h}. The Jerusalem Targum renders it, "in wisdom God created"; see Pr 3:19 and some of the ancients have interpreted it of the wisdom of God, the Logos and Son of God. From hence we learn, that the world was not eternal, either as to the matter or form of it, as Aristotle, and some other philosophers, have asserted, but had a beginning; and that its being is not owing to the fortuitous motion and conjunction of atoms, but to the power and wisdom of God, the first cause and sole author of all things; and that there was not any thing created before the heaven and the earth were: hence those phrases, before the foundation of the world, and before the world began, &c. are expressive of eternity: this utterly destroys the notion of the pre-existence of the souls of men, or of the soul of the Messiah: false therefore is what the Jews say {i}, that paradise, the righteous, Israel, Jerusalem, &c. were created before the world; unless they mean, that these were foreordained by God to be, which perhaps is their sense.
{a} " fuit, eminuit", Golius, col. 1219. {b} "quicquid humile, inferum et depressum" ib. col. 70. Hottinger. Smegma Orient. c. 5. p. 70. & Thesaur. Philolog. l. 1. c. 2. p. 234. {c} Sepher Shorash. rad. ta. {d} Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 30. p. 275, 276. {e} Ut supra. (Sepher Shorash.) rad. arb {f} hla "coluit, unde" hwla "numen colendum", Schultens in Job. i. 1. Golius, col. 144. Hottinger. Smegma, p. 120. {g} See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 33. {h} So Vatablus. {i} Targum Jon. & Jerus. in Gen. iii. 24. T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 54. 1. & Nedarim, fol. 39. 2.
Genesis 1:2
Ver. 2. And the earth was without form, and void,.... It was not in the form it now is, otherwise it must have a form, as all matter has; it was a fluid matter, the watery parts were not separated from the earthy ones; it was not put into the form of a terraqueous globe it is now, the sea apart, and the earth by itself, but were mixed and blended together; it was, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it, a waste and desert, empty and destitute of both men and beasts; and it may be added, of fishes and fowls, and also of trees, herbs, and plants. It was, as Ovid {k} calls it, a chaos and an indigested mass of matter; and Hesiod {l} makes a chaos first to exist, and then the wide extended earth, and so Orpheus {m}, and others; and this is agreeably to the notion of various nations. The Chinese make a chaos to be the beginning of all things, out of which the immaterial being (God) made all things that consist of matter, which they distinguish into parts they call Yin and Yang, the one signifying hidden or imperfect, the other open or perfect {n}: and so the Egyptians, according to Diodorus Siculus {o}, whose opinion he is supposed to give, thought the system of the universe had but one form; the heaven and earth, and the nature of them, being mixed and blended together, until by degrees they separated and obtained the form they now have: and the Phoenicians, as Sanchoniatho {p} relates, supposed the principle of the universe to be a dark and windy air, or the blast of a dark air, and a turbid chaos surrounded with darkness, as follows;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep: the whole fluid mass of earth and water mixed together. This abyss is explained by waters in the next clause, which seem to be uppermost; and this was all a dark turbid chaos, as before expressed, without any light or motion, till an agitation was made by the Spirit, as is next observed:
and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, which covered the earth, Ps 104:6 the earthy particles being heaviest sunk lower, and the waters being lighter rose up above the others: hence Thales {q} the philosopher makes water to be the beginning of all things, as do the Indian Brahmans {r}: and Aristotle {s} himself owns that this was the most ancient opinion concerning the origin of the universe, and observes, that it was not only the opinion of Thales, but of those that were the most remote from the then present generation in which he lived, and of those that first wrote on divine things; and it is frequent in Hesiod and Homer to make Oceanus, or the ocean, with Tethys, to be the parents of generation: and so the Scriptures represent the original earth as standing out of the water, and consisting of it, 2Pe 3:5 and upon the surface of these waters, before they were drained off the earth, "the Spirit of God moved"; which is to be understood not of a wind, as Onkelos, Aben Ezra, and many Jewish writers, as well as Christians, interpret it; since the air, which the wind is a motion of, was not made until the second day. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies; and by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah, as many Jewish writers {t} call him; that is, the third Person in the blessed Trinity, who was concerned in the creation of all things, as in the garnishing of the heavens, so in bringing the confused matter of the earth and water into form and order; see Job 26:13. This same Spirit "moved" or brooded {u} upon the face of the waters, to impregnate them, as an hen upon eggs to hatch them, so he to separate the parts which were mixed together, and give them a quickening virtue to produce living creatures in them. This sense and idea of the word are finely expressed by our poet {w}. Some traces of this appear in the
nouv or mind of Anaxagoras, which when all things were mixed together came and set them in order {x}; and the "mens" of Thales he calls God, which formed all things out of water {y}; and the "spiritus intus alit", &c. of Virgil; and with this agrees what Hermes says, that there was an infinite darkness in the abyss or deep, and water, and a small intelligent spirit, endued with a divine power, were in the chaos {z}: and perhaps from hence is the mundane egg, or egg of Orpheus {a}: or the firstborn or first laid egg, out of which all things were formed; and which he borrowed from the Egyptians and Phoenicians, and they perhaps from the Jews, and which was reckoned by them a resemblance of the world. The Egyptians had a deity they called Cneph, out of whose mouth went forth an egg, which they interpreted of the world {b}: and the Zophasemin of the Phoenicians, which were heavenly birds, were, according to Sanchoniatho {c}, of the form of an egg; and in the rites of Bacchus they worshipped an egg, as being an image of the world, as Macrobius {d} says; and therefore he thought the question, whether an hen or an egg was oldest, was of some moment, and deserved consideration: and the Chinese say {e}, that the first man was produced out of the chaos as from an egg, the shell of which formed the heavens, the white the air, and the yolk the earth; and to this incubation of the spirit, or wind, as some would have it, is owing the windy egg of Aristophanes {f}.
(Thomas Chamlers (1780-1847) in 1814 was the first to purpose that there is a gap between verse 1 and 2. Into this gap he places a pre-Adamic age, about which the scriptures say nothing. Some great catastrophe took place, which left the earth "without form and void" or ruined, in which state it remained for as many years as the geologist required. {g} This speculation has been popularised by the 1917 Scofield Reference Bible. However, the numerous rock layers that are the supposed proof for these ages, were mainly laid down by Noah's flood. In Ex 20:11 we read of a literal six day creation. No gaps, not even for one minute, otherwise these would not be six normal days. Also, in Ro 5:12 we read that death is the result of Adam's sin. Because the rock layers display death on a grand scale, they could not have existed before the fall of Adam. There is no direct evidence that the earth is much older than six thousand years. However, we have the direct eyewitness report of God himself that he made everything in six days. Tracing back through the biblical genealogies we can determine the age of the universe to be about six thousand years with an error of not more than two per cent. See Topic 8756. Editor.)
{k} "Quem dixere chaos, rudis indigestaque moles", Ovid Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 1. {l} htoi men protista caov &c. Hesiodi Theogonia. {m} Orphei Argonautica, ver. 12. {n} Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 1. p. 5. {o} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 7. {p} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 2. c. 10. p. 33. {q} Laert. in Vita Thaletis, p. 18. do Natura Deorum, l. 1. {r} Strabo. Geograph. l. 15. p. 491. {s} Metaphysic. l. 1. c. 3. {t} Zohar in Gen. fol. 107. 3. and fol. 128. 3. Bereshit Rabba, fol. 2. 4. and 6. 3. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 14. fol. 156. 4. Baal Hatturim in loc. Caphtor Uperah, fol. 113. 2. {u} tpxrm "incubabat", Junius, Tremellius, Piscator, "as a dove on her young", T. Bab. Chagigah, fol. 15. 1. {w} ----and, with mighty wings outspread, Dovelike satst brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant.---- 's Lost, B. 1. l. 20, 21, 22. The same sentiment is in B. 7. l. 234, 235. {x} Laert. in Vita Anaxagor. p. 91. Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 10. c. 14. p. 504. {y} Cicero de Nat. Deorum, l. 1. Lactant, de falsa Relig. l. 1. c. 5. {z} Apud Drusium in loc. {a} Hymn. protogon, ver. 1, 2. {b} Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 3. c. 11. p. 115. {c} Apud Ib. l. 2. c. 10. p. 33. {d} Saturnal. l. 7. c. 16. {e} Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 1. p. 3, 4. {f} In Avibus. {g} Ian Taylor, p. 363, 364, "In the Minds of Men", 1984, TEF Publishing, , Stn. F, .
Genesis 1:3
Ver. 3. And God said,.... This phrase is used, nine times in this account of the creation; it is admired by Longinus the Heathen in his treatise "of the Sublime", as a noble instance of it; and it is most beautifully paraphrased and explained in Ps 33:6 as expressive of the will, power, authority, and efficacy of the divine Being; whose word is clothed with power, and who can do, and does whatever he will, and as soon as he pleases; his orders are always obeyed. Perhaps the divine Person speaking here is the Logos or Word of God, which was in the beginning with God, and was God, and who himself is the light that lightens every creature. The words spoke were,
let there be light, and there was light: it at once appeared; "God commanded light to shine out of darkness"; as the apostle says, 2Co 4:6 this was the first thing made out of the dark chaos; as in the new creation, or work of grace in the heart, light is the first thing produced there: what this light was is not easy to say. Some of the Jewish Rabbins, and also some Christian writers, think the angels are designed by it, which is not at all probable, as the ends and use of this light show: others of them are of opinion, that it is the same with the sun, of which a repetition is made on the fourth day, because of its use and efficacy to the earth, and its plants; but others more rightly take it to be different from the sun, and a more glimmering light, which afterwards was gathered into and perfected in the body of the sun {f}. It is the opinion of Zanchius {g}, and which is approved of by our countryman, Mr. Fuller {h}, that it was a lucid body, or a small lucid cloud, which by its circular motion from east to west made day and night {i}; perhaps somewhat like the cloudy pillar of fire that guided the Israelites in the wilderness, and had no doubt heat as well as light; and which two indeed, more or less, go together; and of such fiery particles this body may well be thought to consist. The word "" signifies both fire and light.
{f} Vid. Menasseh ben conciliator in Gen. qu. 2. {g} De Operibus Dei, par. 3. l. 1. c. 2. col. 239. and l. 2. c. 1. {h} Miscell. Sacr. l. 1. c. 12. {i} Milton seems to be of the same mind:----- -----and forthwith light. Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep, and from her native east To journey thro' the airy gloom began, Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle Sojourned the while.----- Paradise Lost, B. 7. l. 243, &c.
Genesis 1:4
Ver. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good,.... Very pleasant and delightful, useful and beneficial; that is, he foresaw it would be good, of great service, as Picherellus {k} interprets it; for as yet there were no inhabitants of the earth to receive any advantage by it; see Ec 11:7 besides, it was doubtless good to answer some present purposes, to prepare for the work of the two following days, before the great luminary was formed; as to dispel the darkness of heaven, and that which covered the deep; to rarefy, exhale, and draw up the lighter parts of the chaos, in order to form the wide extended ether, the expanded air, and the surrounding atmosphere, while the Spirit of God was agitating the waters, and separating them from the earthy parts; and which also might serve to unite and harden those which were to form the dry land, and also to warm that when it appeared, that it might bring forth grass, herbs, and fruit trees:
and God divided the light from the darkness: by which it should seem that they were mixed together, the particles of light and darkness; but "by what way is the light parted", severed and divided from darkness, is a question put to men by the Lord himself, who only can answer it, Job 38:24 he has so divided one from the other that they are not together at the same place and time; when light is in one hemisphere, darkness is in the other {l}; and the one by certain constant revolutions is made to succeed the other; and by the motion of the one, the other gives way; as well as also God has divided and distinguished them by calling them by different names, as Aben Ezra, and is what next follows:
{k} In Cosmopoeiam, p. 267. {l} in the place above referred to says, it was divided by the hemisphere. Lost, B. 7. l. 243, &c.
Genesis 1:5
Ver. 5. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night,.... Either by the circulating motion of the above body of light, or by the rotation of the chaos on its own axis towards it, in the space of twenty four hours there was a vicissitude of light and darkness; just as there is now by the like motion either of the sun, or of the earth; and which after this appellation God has given, we call the one, day, and the other, night:
and the evening and the morning were the first day: the evening, the first part of the night, or darkness, put for the whole night, which might be about the space of twelve hours; and the morning, which was the first part of the day, or light, put also for the whole, which made the same space, and both together one natural day, consisting of twenty four hours; what Daniel calls an "evening morning", Da 8:26 and the apostle nucyhmeron, a "night day", 2Co 11:25. Thales being asked which was first made, the night or the day, answered, the night was before one day {m}. The Jews begin their day from the preceding evening; so many other nations: the Athenians used to reckon their day from sun setting to sun setting {n}; the Romans from the middle of the night, to the middle of the night following, as Gellius {o} relates; and Tacitus {p} reports of the ancient Germans, that they used to compute not the number of days, but of nights, reckoning that the night led the day. Caesar {q} observes of the ancient Druids in Britain, that they counted time not by the number of days, but nights; and observed birthdays, and the beginnings of months and years, so as that the day followed the night; and we have some traces of this still among us, as when we say this day se'nnight, or this day fortnight. This first day of the creation, according to James Capellus, was the eighteenth of April; but, according to Bishop Usher, the twenty third of October; the one beginning the creation in the spring, the other in autumn. It is a notion of Mr. Whiston's, that the six days of the creation were equal to six years, a day and a year being one and the same thing before the fall of man, when the diurnal rotation of the earth about its axis, as he thinks, began; and in agreement with this, very remarkable is the doctrine Empedocles taught, that when mankind sprung originally from the earth, the length of the day, by reason of the slowness of the sun's motion, was equal to ten of our present months {r}. The Hebrew word bre, "Ereb", rendered "evening", is retained by some of the Greek poets, as by Hesiod {s}, who says, out of the "chaos" came "Erebus", and black night, and out of the night ether and the day; and Aristophanes {t}, whose words are,
"chaos, night, and black "Erebus" were first, and wide Tartarus, but there were neither earth, air, nor heaven, but in the infinite bosom of Erebus, black winged night first brought forth a windy egg, &c.''
And Orpheus {u} makes night to be the beginning of all things.
(Hugh Miller (1802-1856) was the first person to popularise the "Day-Age" theory. In his book, "Testimony of the Rocks", that was published in the year after his untimely death, he speculated that that the days were really long ages. He held that Noah's flood was a local flood and the rock layers were laid down long periods of time. {v} This theory has been popularised by the New Scofield Bible first published in 1967. See Topic 8757. Editor.)
{m} Laert. in Vita Thaletis. p. 24. {n} Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 77. {o} Noct. Attic. l. 3. c. 2. {p} De Mor. German. c. 11. {q} Commentar. l. 6. p. 141. {r} Vid. Universal History, vol. 1. p. 79. {s} ek caeov d'erebov, &c. Hesiod. Theogonia. {t} caov hn kai nux erebov te melan proton &c. Aristophanes in Avibus. {u} Hymn. 2. ver. 2. {v} Ian Taylor, p. 360-362, "In the Minds of Men", 1984, TEV Publishing, P.O. Box 5015, Stn. F, Toronto, Ontario, M4Y 2T1.
Genesis 1:6
Ver. 6. And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,.... On which the Spirit of God was sitting and moving, Ge 1:2 part of which were formed into clouds, and drawn up into heaven by the force of the body of fire and light already produced; and the other part left on the earth, not yet gathered into one place, as afterwards: between these God ordered a "firmament to be", or an "expanse" {v}; something stretched out and spread like a curtain, tent, or canopy: and to this all those passages of Scripture refer, which speak of the stretching out of the heavens, as this firmament or expanse is afterwards called; see
Ps 104:2 and by it is meant the air, as it is rendered by the Targum on Ps 19:1 we call it the "firmament" from the {w} word which the Greek interpreter uses, because it is firm, lasting, and durable: and it has the name of an expanse from its wide extent, it reaching from the earth to the third heaven; the lower and thicker parts of it form the atmosphere in which we breathe; the higher and thinner parts of it, the air in which fowls fly, and the ether or sky in which the sun, moon, and stars are placed; for all these are said to be in the firmament or expanse, Ge 1:17. These are the stories in the heavens the Scriptures speak of, Am 9:6 and the air is divided by philosophers into higher, middle, and lower regions: and so the Targum of Jonathan places this firmament or expanse between the extremities of the heaven, and the waters of the ocean. The word in the Syriac language has the sense of binding and compressing {x}; and so it is used in the Syriac version of Lu 6:38 and may denote the power of the air when formed in compressing the chaos, and dividing and separating the parts of it; and which it now has in compressing the earth, and the several parts that are in it, and by its compression preserves them and retains them in their proper places {y}:
and let it divide the waters from the waters; the waters under it from those above it, as it is explained in the next verse; of which more there.
{v} eyqr "expansio", Montanus. Tigurine version; "extensio", Munster, Fagius, Vatablus, Aben Ezra; "expansum", Junius, Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Schmidt, sterewma Sept. "firmamentum", V. L. {w} Id. {x} Vid. Castell. Lex. col. 3647. Fuller. Miscell. Sacr. l. 1. c. 6. {y} Vid. . Physica "vetus et vera", c. 7. sect. 13, 14. p. 88, 89.
Genesis 1:7
Ver. 7. And God made the firmament,.... By a word speaking, commanding it into being, producing it out of the chaos, and spreading it in that vast space between the heaven of heavens and our earth {z}.
And divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; the lower part of it, the atmosphere above, which are the clouds full of water, from whence rain descends upon the earth; and which divided between them and those that were left on the earth, and so under it, not yet gathered into one place; as it now does between the clouds of heaven and the waters of the sea. Though Mr. Gregory {a} is of opinion, that an abyss of waters above the most supreme orb is here meant; or a great deep between the heavens and the heaven of heavens, where, as in storehouses, the depth is laid up; and God has his treasures of snow, hail, and rain, and from whence he brought out the waters which drowned the world at the universal deluge. Others suppose the waters above to be the crystalline heaven, which for its clearness resembles water; and which {b} calls the "crystalline ocean".
And it was so: the firmament was accordingly made, and answered this purpose, to divide the waters below it from those above it; or "it was firm" {c}, stable and durable; and so it has continued.
{z} ------and God made The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, Transparent, elemental air, diffused In circuit to the uttermost convex Of this great round.------ Milton, Paradise Lost, B. 7. l. 263, &c. {a} Notes and Observations, &c. c. 23. p. 110, &c. {b} Ibid. l. 291. {c} Nk yhyw "et factum est firmum", Fagius & Nachmanides in ib.
Genesis 1:8
Ver. 8. And God called the firmament heaven,.... Including the starry and airy heavens: it has its name from its height in the Arabic language, it being above the earth, and reaching to the third heaven; though others take the word "shamaim" to be a compound of two words, "sham" and "maim", that is, there are waters, namely, in the clouds of heaven:
and the evening; and the morning were the second day; these together made up the space of twenty four hours, which was another natural day; the body of light, created on the first day, having again moved round the chaos in that space of time; or else the chaos had turned round on its own axis in that time, which revolution produced a second day; and which, according to Capellus, was the nineteenth of April, and according to Bishop Usher the twenty fourth of October. It is an observation that everyone may make, that the phrase,
and God saw that it was good, is not used at the close of this day's work, as of the rest: the reason some Jewish writers give is, because the angels fell on this day; but it is a much better which Jarchi gives, and that is, because the work of the waters was not finished; it was begun on the second day, and perfected on the third {d}; and therefore the phrase is twice used in the account of the third day's work: the Septuagint version adds it here indeed, but without any foundation.
{d} Vid. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 30.
Genesis 1:9
Ver. 9. And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place,.... Which are before called the waters under the firmament; and which were either on the surface of the earth, or in the bowels of it, or mixed with it, which by the compressure of the expanse or air were separated from it and these, by apertures and channels made, were caused to flow as by a straight line, as the word {e} used signifies, unto the decreed place that was broke up for them, the great hollow or channel which now contains the waters of the ocean: this was done by the word of the Lord, at his rebuke; and when it seems there was a clap thunder, and perhaps an earthquake, which made the vast cavity for the sea, as well as threw up the hills and mountains, and made the valleys; see
Job 38:10,
and let the dry land appear: clear of the waters, dried by the expanded air, hardened by the fiery light, and as yet without any herb or tree upon it:
and it was so; immediately done, the waters were drained off the earth, directed to their proper channels, and caused to run as by line to their appointed place; and the solid parts of the earth became dry, and appeared in sight.
{e} wwqy "congregentur tanquam ad amussim et regulam", Fagius; "recto et equabili cursu contendant et collineant", Junius.
Genesis 1:10
Ver. 10. And God called the dry land earth,.... The whole chaos, that was a turbid fluid, a mixture of earth and water, a rude unformed mass of matter, was called earth before; but now that part of the terraqueous globe, which was separated from the waters, and they from it, is called "earth": which has its name in the Arabic language from its being low and depressed; the lighter parts having been elevated, and moved upwards, and formed the atmosphere; the grosser parts subsiding and falling downwards, made the earth, which is low with respect to the firmament, which has its name in the same language from its height {f}, as before observed.
And the gathering together of the waters called he seas; for though there was but one place into which they were collected, and which is the main ocean, with which all other waters have a communication, and so are one; yet there are divers seas, as the Red sea, the Mediterranean, Caspian, Baltic, &c. or which are denominated from the shores they wash, as the German, British, &c. and even lakes and pools of water are called seas, as the sea of Galilee and Tiberias, which was no other than the lake of Gennesaret.
And God saw [that it was] good; that these two should be separate, that the waters should be in one place, and the dry land appear, and both have the names he gave them: and this is here mentioned, because now the affair of the waters, the division aud separation of them, were brought to an end, and to perfection: but because this phrase is here used, and not at the mention of the second day, hence Picherellus, and some others, have thought, that this work is to be ascribed to the second day, and not to the third, and render the beginning of the ninth verse, and "God had said", or "after God had said, let the waters under the heaven", &c. Ge 1:9
{f} Mymv "a verbo", hmv "sublimis, elatus, altus fuit"; Ura "lingua Arabica, humilis, depressus fuit significat", Bottinger. Thesaur, Philolog. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 6. p. 234.
Genesis 1:11
Ver. 11. And God said, let the earth bring forth grass,.... Which had been impregnated by the Spirit of God that moved upon it when a fluid; and though now become dry land, it retained sufficient moisture in it, and was juicy and fit to produce vegetables; and especially as it had the advantage of the expanded air about it, and the warmth of the primordial light or fire; though all this would have been insufficient to produce plants and trees at full growth, with their seed in them, and fruit on them, without the interposition of almighty power: this seems to intend the germination or budding out of the tender grass, and the numerous spires of it which cover the earth, and by their verdure and greenness give it a delightful aspect, as well as afford food for the creatures:
the herb yielding seed; this is distinct from the former; that denotes herbage in general, which grows up of itself without being sown or manured, and is the food of beasts; this in particular, herbs and plants for the use of man, which yield a seed which either falling from it sows itself again, or is taken from it and sown on purpose to reproduce it, being useful or delightful:
[and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind; as apples, pears, plums, apricots, nectars, peaches, oranges, lemons, &c.
whose seed is in itself upon the earth; each of which produce a seed according to the nature of them, which being sown produce the like, and so there is a continuance of them upon the earth:
and it was so; as God commanded it should, as appears from the following verse.
Genesis 1:12
Ver. 12. And the earth brought forth grass,.... In great abundance at once; the hills and vales were clothed with it, and so a rich provision was made the beasts and cattle of the earth two or three days before they were created:
[and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind: wholesome and healthful herbs and plants, and delicious fruit to be meat and food for man, ready prepared for him when created; see Ge 1:29 on this day, though after related, were made the garden of Eden, and all the trees in it, pleasant for sight, and good for food; and particularly the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil;
and God saw that it [was] good; which he had now caused to spring forth, grass, herbs, and fruit trees, which were good for men and beast, and this he foresaw would be so; See Gill on "Ge 1:4".
Genesis 1:13
Ver. 13. And the evening and the morning were the third day. The space of twenty four hours ran out, and were measured, either by the rotation of the body of light and heat around the earth, or of the earth upon its axis: and this was according to Capellus the twentieth day of April, and, according to Bishop Usher, the twenty fifth of October; though those who suppose the world was created in autumn make the first day to be the first of September, and so this must be the third of that month; the Jews are divided about the season of the creation; some say Nisan or March, others Tisri or September {g}
{g} Vid. T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 11. 1.
Genesis 1:14
Ver. 14. And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven,.... In the upper part of it, commonly called the starry heaven: some writers, both Jewish and Christian, and even modern astronomers, understand this only of the appearance of them, and not of the formation of them; they suppose they were made on the first day, but did not appear or shine out so clearly and visibly as now on the fourth day: but it seems rather, that the body of fire and light produced on the first day was now distributed and formed into several luminous bodies of sun, moon, and stars, for these were
tram, "from light"; lights produced from that light, or made out of it; or were instruments of communicating and letting down that light upon the earth {h}, which was collected and put together in them, especially in the sun: and the uses of them were
to divide the day from the night; which is the peculiar use of the sun, which by its appearance and continuance makes the day, and by withdrawing itself, or not appearing for a certain time, makes the night; as the light by its circular motion did for the first three days, or the diurnal motion of the earth on its axis, then and now:
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; for "signs" of good and bad weather; for the times of ploughing, sowing, reaping, &c. and for the "seasons" of summer and winter, spring and autumn; for "days" by a circular motion for the space of twenty four hours; and for "years" by annual motion for the space of three hundred sixty five days and odd hours. The Targum of Jonathan is,
"and let them be for signs and the times of the feasts, and to reckon with them the number of days, and, sanctify the beginnings of the months, and the beginnings of the years, and the intercalations of months and years, the revolutions of the sun, and the new moons, and cycles.''
And so Jarchi interprets "seasons" of the solemn festivals, that would hereafter be commanded the children of ; but those uses were not for a certain people, and for a certain time, but for all mankind, as long as the world should stand.
{h} rwa "significat lucem illam primam per sese lucentem";
rwam "vero corpus per quod lux illa prima splendorem suum demittit". Nachmanides, apud Fagium in loc.
Genesis 1:15
Ver. 15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven,.... To continue there as luminous bodies; as enlighteners, as the word signifies, causing light, or as being the instruments of conveying it, particularly to the earth, as follows:
to give light upon the earth; and the inhabitants of it, when formed:
and it was so: these lights were formed and placed in the firmament of the heaven for such uses, and served such purposes as God willed and ordered they should.
Genesis 1:16
Ver. 16. And God made two great lights,.... This was his own work which he himself did, and not by another; and may be particularly observed to express the folly of idolaters in worshipping these luminaries which were the creations of God, and were placed by him in the heaven to serve some purposes on earth beneficial to men, but not to be worshipped. These two "great lights" are the sun and the moon; and they may well be called great, especially the former, for the diameter of the sun is reckoned to be about eight hundred thousand miles. According to Mr. Derham {i} its apparent diameter is computed at 822,145 English miles, its ambit at 2,582,873 miles, and its solid contents at 290,971,000,000,000,000: the lowest account makes the sun a hundred thousand times bigger than the earth; and according to Sir Isaac Newton it is 900,000 bigger. The moon's diameter is to that of the earth is about twenty seven per cent, or 2175 miles, its surface contains fourteen hundred thousand square miles {k}: it is called great, not on account of its corporeal quantity, for it is the least of all the planets excepting Mercury, but because of its quality, as a light, it reflecting more light upon the earth than any besides the sun.
The greater light to rule the day: not to rule men, though the heathens have worshipped it under the names of Molech and Baal, which signify king and lord, as if it was their lord and king to whom they were to pay homage; but to rule the day, to preside over it, to make it, give light in it, and continue it to its proper length; and in which it rules alone, the moon, nor any of the other planets then appearing: this is called the "greater" light, in comparison of the moon, not only with respect to its body or substance, but on account of its light, which is far greater and stronger than that of the moon; and which indeed receives its light from it, the moon being, as is generally said, an opaque body:
and the lesser light to rule the night; to give light then, though in a fainter, dimmer way, by reflecting it from the sun; and it rules alone, the sun being absent from the earth, and is of great use to travellers and sailors; it is called the lesser light, in comparison of the sun. Astronomers are of opinion, as Calmet {l} observes, that it is about fifty two times smaller than the earth, and four thousand one hundred and fifty times smaller than the sun; but these proportions are otherwise determined by the generality of modern astronomers: however, they all agree that the moon is abundantly less than the sun; and that it is as a light, we all know.
[He made] the stars also; to rule by night, Ps 136:9 not only the planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, but the vast numbers of stars with which the heavens are bespangled, and which reflect some degree of light upon the earth; with the several constellations, some of which the Scriptures speak of, as Arcturus, Orion, Pleiades, and the chambers of the south, Job 9:9
Job 38:31 though some restrain this to the five planets only.
Ed. Contrast the foolishness of modern cosmology with the writings of the early church father, Theophilus when he states {j}:
"On the fourth day the luminaries came into existence. Since God has foreknowledge, he understood the nonsense of the foolish philosophers who were going to say that the things produced on earth came from the stars, so that they might set God aside. In order therefore that the truth might be demonstrated, plants and seeds came into existence before stars. For what comes into existence later cannot cause what is prior to it.''
{i} Astro-Theology, B. 1. c. 2. & B. 6. c. 2. {j} Cited from Impact 251. ICR "Acts and Facts" (May 1994); Theophilus, "To Autolycus" 2. 4, Oxford Early Christian Texts, as cited in Louis Lavalle, "The Early Church Defended Creation Science" Impact 160. ICR "Acts and Facts" (October 1986): ii. {k} Chambers's Dictionary in the word "Moon". {l} Dictionary in the word "Moon".
Genesis 1:17
Ver. 17. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven,.... He not only ordered that there they should be, and made them that there they might be, but he placed them there with his own hands; and they are placed, particularly the sun, at such a particular distance as to be beneficial and not hurtful: had it been set nearer to the earth, its heat would have been intolerable; and had it been further off it would have been of no use; in the one case we should have been scorched with its heat, and in the other been frozen up for the want of it. The various expressions used seem to be designed on purpose to guard against and expose the vanity of the worship of the sun and moon; which being visible, and of such great influence and usefulness to the earth, were the first the Heathens paid adoration to, and was as early as the times of Job, Job 31:26 and yet these were but creatures made by God, his servants and agents under him, and therefore to worship them was to serve the creature besides the Creator.
To give light upon the earth; this is repeated from Ge 1:15 to show the end for which they were made, and set up, and the use they were to be of to the earth; being hung up like so many lamps or chandeliers, to contain and send forth light unto the earth, to the inhabitants of it, that they may see to walk and work by, and do all the business of life, as well as be warmed and comforted thereby, and the earth made fertile to bring forth its precious fruits for the use of creatures in it: and it is marvellous that such light should be emitted from the sun, when it is at such a vast distance from the earth, and should reach it in so short a space. A modern astronomer {m} observes, that a bullet discharged from a cannon would be near twenty five years, before it could finish its journey from the sun to the earth: and yet the rays of light reach the earth in seven minutes and a half, and are said to pass ten millions of miles in a minute.
{m} Huygen. Cosmotheoros. l. 2. p. 125.
Genesis 1:18
Ver. 18. And to rule over the day, and over the night,.... The one, namely the sun, or greater light, to rule over the day, and the moon and stars, the lesser lights, to rule over the night: this is repeated from Ge 1:16 to show the certainty of it, and that the proper uses of these lights might be observed, and that a just value might be put upon them, but not carried beyond due bounds:
and to divide the light from the darkness; as the day from the night, which is done by the sun, Ge 1:14 and to dissipate and scatter the darkness of the night, and give some degree of light, though in a more feeble manner, which is done by the moon and stars:
and God saw that [it was] good; or foresaw it would be, that there should be such lights in the heaven, which would be exceeding beneficial to the inhabitants of the earth, as they find by good experience it is, and therefore have great reason to be thankful, and to adore the wisdom and goodness of God; see Ps 136:1.
See Gill on "Ge 1:4".
Genesis 1:19
Ver. 19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Made by the rotation of the earth on its own axis, in the space of twenty four hours: this according to Capellus was the twenty first of April, and according to Bishop Usher the twenty sixth of October; or, as others, the fourth of September: and thus, as on the fourth day of the creation the sun was made, or appeared, so in the fourth millennium the sun of righteousness arose on our earth.
Genesis 1:20
Ver. 20. And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly,.... The waters gathered together in one place, the waters of the ocean, and those in rivers, pools and lakes, and which, before their collection into those places, had been sat on, moved, and impregnated by the Spirit of God; so that they could, as they did, by the divine order accompanied with his power, bring forth abundance of creatures, next mentioned:
the moving creature that hath life: an animal life, of which sort of creatures as yet there had been none made; vegetables, or such as have a vegetative life, were made on the third day; but those that have a sensitive and animal life not till this day, the fifth; and the less perfect, or lower sort of these, were first produced, even such as move or "creep" {n}, as the word used signifies; which is applied to fishes as well as creeping things, because in swimming their bellies touch the water, and are close to it, as reptiles on the earth: and of these creeping things in the seas there are innumerable, as the Psalmist says, Ps 104:25. Pliny {o} reckons up an hundred and seventy six kinds of fishes, which he puts in an alphabetical order:
and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven; which according to our version were to be produced out of the waters also; not out of mere water, but out of earth and water mixed together, or out of the earth or clay {p} that lay at the bottom of the waters: and it may be observed of some fowls, that they live on the waters, and others partly on land and partly on water; and as the elements of fowl and fish, the air and water, bear a resemblance to each other, so do these creatures, some fowls both fly and swim; and what wings are to the one, fins are to the other; and both steer their course by their tails, and are both oviparous: though it should seem, according to Ge 2:19, that the fowls were produced from the earth, and the words may be rendered here, "let the fowl fly above the earth", &c. as they are in the Samaritan and Syriac versions, and in others {q}.
{n} Urv "reptile", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; "reptilia", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. {o} Nat. Hist. l. 32. c. 11. {p} Vid. T. Bab. Cholin. fol. 27. 2. {q} Ppwey Pwew "et volatile volet", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Amama, "et volatile volitet", Tigurine version; "et volucres volent", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "et aves volent", Drusius; "et volucris volet", Cartwrightus; "et avis volitet", Schmidt.
Genesis 1:21
Ver. 21. And God created great whales,.... Which the Targums of Jonathan and Jarchi interpret of the Leviathan and its mate, concerning which the Jews have many fabulous things: large fishes are undoubtedly meant, and the whale being of the largest sort, the word is so rendered. Aelianus, from various writers, relates many things of the extraordinary size of whales; of one in the Indian sea five times bigger than the largest elephant, one of its ribs being twenty cubits {r}; from Theocles, of one that was larger than a galley with three oars {s}; and from Onesicritus and Orthagoras, of one that was half a furlong in length {t}; and Pliny {u} speaks of one sort called the "balaena", and of one of them in the Indian sea, that took up four aces of land, and so Solinus {w}; and from Juba, he relates there were whales that were six hundred feet in length, and three hundred sixty in breadth {x} but whales in common are but about fifty, seventy, eighty, or at most one hundred feet. Some interpret these of crocodiles, see Eze 29:3 some of which are twenty, some thirty, and some have been said to be an hundred feet long {y} The word is sometimes used of dragons, and, if it has this sense here, must be meant of dragons in the sea, or sea serpents, leviathan the piercing serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent, Isa 27:1 so the Jews {z}; and such as the bishop of Bergen {a} speaks of as in the northern seas of a hundred fathom long, or six hundred English feet; and who also gives an account of a sea monster of an enormous and incredible size, that sometimes appears like an island at a great distance, called "Kraken" {b}; now because creatures of such a prodigious size were formed out of the waters, which seemed so very unfit to produce them; therefore the same word is here made use of, as is in the creation of the heaven and the earth out of nothing, Ge 1:1 because this production, though not out of nothing, yet was an extraordinary instance of almighty power.
And every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind; that is, every living creature that swims in the waters of the great sea, or in rivers, whose kinds are many, and their numbers not to be reckoned;
See Gill on "Ge 1:20"
and every winged fowl after his kind; every fowl, and the various sorts of them that fly in the air; these were all created by God, or produced out of the water and out of the earth by his wonderful power:
and God saw [that it was] good; or foresaw that those creatures he made in the waters and in the air would serve to display the glory of his perfections, and be very useful and beneficial to man, he designed to create.
(Some of the creatures described by the ancients must refer to animals that are now extinct. Some of these may have been very large dinasours. Ed.)
{r} Hist. Animal. l. 16. c. 12. {s} Ib. l. 17. c. 6. {t} Ibid. {u} Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 3. {w} Polyhistor. c. 65. {x} Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 32. c. 1. {y} See Thevenot's Travels, par. 1. c. 72. p. 246. Harris's Voyages, &c. vol. 1. p. 287, 485, 759. {z} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 74. 2. {a} History of , p. 199. {b} Ibid. p. 210, &c.
Genesis 1:22
Ver. 22. And God blessed them,.... With a power to procreate their kind, and continue their species, as it is interpreted in the next clause;
saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas: and these creatures do multiply exceedingly, and vast quantities there are of them in the mighty waters, though the consumption of some sorts of them is very great. Our English word "fish" is derived from the Hebrew word vwp, "fush", which signifies to multiply and increase:
and let fowl multiply in the earth; as they did, and continue to do to this day.
Genesis 1:23
Ver. 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. The sun now in the firmament, where it was fixed the day before, having gone round the earth, or the earth about that, in the space of twenty four hours; and according to Capellus this was the twenty second of April; or, as others, the fifth of September; and according to Bishop Usher the twenty seventh of October.
Genesis 1:24
Ver. 24. And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,.... All sorts of living creatures that live and move upon the earth; not that the earth was endued with a power to produce these creatures of itself, without the interposition of God: for though it might be impregnated with a quickening virtue by the Spirit of God, which moved on it whilst a fluid, and had been prepared and disposed for such a production by the heat of the body of light created on the first day, and of the sun on the fourth; yet no doubt it was by the power of God accompanying his word, that these creatures were produced of the earth, and formed into their several shapes. The Heathens had some traditionary notion of this affair: according to the Egyptians, whose sentiments Diodorus Siculus {c} seems to give us, the process was thus carried on; the earth being stiffened by the rays of the sun, and the moist matter being made fruitful by the genial heat, at night received nourishment by the mist which fell from the ambient air; and in the day was consolidated by the heat of the sun, till at length the enclosed foetus having arrived to a perfect increase, and the membranes burnt and burst, creatures of all kinds appeared; of whom those that had got a greater degree of heat went upwards, and became flying fowl; those that were endued with an earthly concretion were reckoned in the class or order of reptiles, and other terrestrial animals; and those that chiefly partook of a moist or watery nature, ran to the place of a like kind, and were called swimmers or fish. This is the account they give; and somewhat like is that which Archelaus, the master of Socrates, delivers as his notion, that animals were produced out of slime, through the heat of the earth liquefying the slime like milk for food {d}: and Zeno the Stoic says {e}, the grosser part of the watery matter of the world made the earth, the thinner part the air, and that still more subtilized, the fire; and then out of the mixture of these proceeded plants and animals, and all the other kinds; but all this they seem to suppose to be done by the mere efforts of nature; whereas Moses here most truly ascribes their production to the all powerful Word of God:
cattle, [and] creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind; the living creatures produced out of the earth are distinguished into three sorts; "cattle", which seem to design tame cattle, and such as are for the use of man, either for carriage, food, or clothing, as horses, asses, camels, oxen, sheep, &c. and "creeping" things, which are different from the creeping things in the sea before mentioned, are such as either have no feet, and go upon their bellies, or are very short, and seem to do so, whether greater or lesser, as serpents, worms, ants, &c.
and the beast of the earth seems to design wild beasts, such as lions, bears, wolves, &c.
and it was so; such creatures were immediately produced.
{c} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 7. {d} Laert. in Vita Archelai, p. 99. {e} Ib. in Vita Zenonis, p. 524.
Genesis 1:25
Ver. 25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind,.... The wild beasts, and the several sorts of them; beginning the account with the last mentioned, as is frequent in the Hebrew language, and so he made all the rest:
and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; tame creatures, and all the reptiles of the earth: this most clearly shows and proves that the above creatures were not produced by the mere force of nature, or the powers the earth were possessed of, however the matter of it might be disposed and prepared, but by the omnipotent hand of God:
and God saw [that it] was good; that every creature he had made would some way or other be for his glory, and for the benefit of man. Picherellus thinks that all this belongs to the work of the fifth day, not the sixth; because as the vegetables, herbs, and trees were produced on the same day, the third day; so animals, whether in the waters, air, or earth, were made on one and the same day; and that it was proper a separate day should be allotted for the formation of rational creatures, Adam and Eve, and that it might appear that the same blessing was not conferred on brutes as on reasonable beings; and therefore the words with which Ge 1:24 begins should be rendered, "but after God had said, let the earth", &c. that is, after God had ordered this, and it was done, then "the evening and the morning were the fifth day"; which is what rhetoricians call an "hysteron proteron".
Genesis 1:26
Ver. 26. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness,.... These words are directed not to the earth, out of which man was made, as consulting with it, and to be assisting in the formation of man, as Moses Gerundensis, and other Jewish writers {f}, which is wretchedly stupid; nor to the angels, as the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, and others, who are not of God's privy council, nor were concerned in any part of the creation, and much less in the more noble part of it: nor are the words spoken after the manner of kings, as Saadiah, using the plural number as expressive of honour and majesty; since such a way of speaking did not obtain very early, not even till the close of the Old Testament: but they are spoken by God the Father to the Son and Holy Ghost, who were each of them concerned in the creation of all things, and particularly of man: hence we read of divine Creators and Makers in the plural number, Job 35:10 and Philo the Jew acknowledges that these words declare a plurality, and are expressive of others, being co-workers with God in creation {g}: and man being the principal part of the creation, and for the sake of whom the world, and all things in it were made, and which being finished, he is introduced into it as into an house ready prepared and furnished for him; a consultation is held among the divine Persons about the formation of him; not because of any difficulty attending it, but as expressive of his honour and dignity; it being proposed he should be made not in the likeness of any of the creatures already made, but as near as could be in the likeness and image of God. The Jews sometimes say, that Adam and Eve were created in the likeness of the holy blessed God, and his Shechinah {h}; and they also speak {i} of Adam Kadmon the ancient Adam, as the cause of causes, of whom it is said, "I was as one brought up with him (or an artificer with him), Pr 8:30 and to this ancient Adam he said, "let us make man in our image, after our likeness": and again, "let us make man"; to whom did he say this? the cause of causes said to "`jod', he, `vau', he"; that is, to Jehovah, which is in the midst of the ten numerations. What are the ten numerations? "`aleph', he, `jod', he", that is, hyha, "I am that I am, Ex 3:14 and he that says let us make, is Jehovah; I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God: and three jods yyy testify concerning him, that there is none above him, nor any below him, but he is in the middle:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air; that is, to catch them, and eat them; though in the after grant of food to man, no mention as yet is made of any other meat than the herbs and fruits of the earth; yet what can this dominion over fish and fowl signify, unless it be a power to feed upon them? It may be observed, that the plural number is used, "let them", which shows that the name "man" is general in the preceding clause, and includes male and female, as we find by the following verse man was created:
and over the cattle, and over all the earth; over the tame creatures, either for food, or clothing, or carriage, or for all of them, some of them for one thing, and some for another; and over all the wild beasts of the earth, which seem to be meant by the phrase, "over all the earth"; that is, over all the beasts of the earth, as appears by comparing it with Ge 1:24 so as to keep them in awe, and keep them off from doing them any damage:
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; to make use of it as should seem convenient for them.
{f} Vet. Nizzachon, p. 5. Lipman. Carmen Memorial. p. 108. apud Wagenseil. Tela ignea, vol. 1. {g} De confusione Ling. p. 344. De Profugis, p. 460. De Opificio, p. 16. {h} Tikkune Zohar, correct. 64. fol. 98. 2. {i} Ibid. correct. 70. fol. 119. 1.
Genesis 1:27
Ver. 27. So God created man in his own image,.... Which consisted both in the form of his body, and the erect stature of it, different from all other creatures; in agreement with the idea of that body, prepared in covenant for the Son of God, and which it was therein agreed he should assume in the fulness of time; and in the immortality of his soul, and in his intellectual powers, and in that purity, holiness, and righteousness in which he was created; as well as in his dominion, power, and authority over the creatures, in which he was as God's viceregent, and resembled him. The Jerusalem Targum is,
"the Word of the Lord created man in his likeness;''
even that Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God, and in time became incarnate, by whom all things were made, Joh 1:1
in the image of God created he him; which is repeated for the certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of, as showing man's superior glory and dignity to the rest of the creatures,
1Co 11:7
male and female created he them; not that man was created an hermaphrodite, or with two bodies, back to back united together, and afterwards cleaved asunder, as the Jews fabulously say; but first God made man, or the male, out of the dust of the earth, and infused a rational soul into him; and then out of one of his ribs made a female, or woman, who was presented to him as his wife, that so their species might be propagated; and only one male and one female were created, to show that hereafter a man was to have at a time no more wives than one; see Mal 2:15 for all that is said in the following chapter, concerning the formation of man out of the dust of the earth, and the making of woman out of his rib, and presenting her to him, and his taking her to be his wife, were all done on this sixth day, and at this time. It is a tradition among the Heathens, that man was made last of all the creatures; so says Plato {k}; and this notion the Chinese also have {l}. The Jews give these reasons why man was made on the evening of the sabbath, to show that he did not assist in the work of creation; and that if he was elated in his mind, it might be told him that a fly was created before him, and that he might immediately enter on the command, i.e. of the sabbath {m}.
{k} Protagor. p. 320, 321. {l} Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 1. p. 4. {m} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 38. 1.
Genesis 1:28
Ver. 28. And God blessed them,.... The man and the woman he had made, with all the blessings of nature and Providence; with all the good things of life; with his presence, and with communion with himself in a natural way, through the creatures; and particularly with a power of procreating their species, as follows;
and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth: if this is not an express command, as the Jews understand it, for marriage and procreation of children, it seems to be more than a bare permission; at least it is a direction and an advice to what was proper and convenient for the increase of mankind, and for the filling of the earth with inhabitants, which was the end of its being made, Isa 45:18. This shows that marriage is an ordinance of God, instituted in paradise, and is honourable; and that procreation is a natural action, and might have been, and may be performed without sin,
and subdue it; the earth; not that it was in the hands of others, who had no right to it, and to be conquered and taken out of their hands; but is to be understood of their taking possession, and making use of it; of their tilling the land, and making it subservient to their use:
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth; which was giving them an universal and unlimited dominion over all the creatures; of which see an enumeration in Ps 8:6.
Genesis 1:29
Ver. 29. And God said,.... That is, to Adam and Eve, whom he had made in his image and likeness, and to whom he had given the dominion of the earth and sea, and all things in them:
behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth; every herb or plant which had a seed in it, by which it sowed itself again; or being taken off, might be sown by man, even everyone that was wholesome, healthful, and nourishing, without any exception; whatever grew in any part of the earth, be it where it would:
and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; all but the tree of knowledge, of good and evil, afterwards excepted; and both these take in all kind of vegetables, all herbs, plants, roots, even corn, wheat, barley, pease, beans, &c. and the various fruits of all sorts of trees, but that before mentioned:
to you it shall be for meat: which is generally thought to be the food of the antediluvians {n}, it not being proper, at least very soon, to kill any of the animals, until they were multiplied and increased, lest their species should be destroyed; though here is no prohibition of eating flesh; nor is it said that this only should be for meat, which is before mentioned; and by the early employment of some in keeping sheep, and by the sacrifice of creatures immediately after the fall, part of which used to be eaten by the offerers; and by the distinction of clean and unclean creatures before the flood, it looks probable that flesh might be eaten: and Bochart {o} refers this clause to what goes before in the preceding verse, as well as to what is in this, and takes the sense to be, that the fishes of the sea, and fowls of the air, and every living creature man had dominion over, as well as herbs and fruits, were given him for his food: but the Jews {p} are of opinion, that the first man might not eat flesh, but it was granted to the sons of Noah.
(From Ro 5:12 there was no death before Adam's sin, hence up until at least the fall, man did not eat meat. Ed.)
{n} "Panis erant primus virides Mortalibus Herbae", Ovid. Fast. l. 4. {o} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 1. c. 2. col. 11. {p} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 59. 2.
Genesis 1:30
Ver. 30. And to every beast of the earth,.... Wild or tame, the cattle on a thousand hills; God took care and provided for these, being all his creatures, and designed to answer some end or other by their creation:
and to every fowl of the air; that flies in it;
and to every creeping thing upon the earth; even the meanest and lowest insect:
wherein there is life; or "a living soul"; that has an animal life, which is to be supported by food:
[I have given] every green herb for meat; the leaves for some, and seed for others; and here is no mention made of flesh; and perhaps those creatures which are now carnivorous were not so at their first creation:
and it was so; every creature, both man and beast, had food suitable to their nature and appetite, and a sufficiency of it.
(From Ro 5:12, it is certain that up until the fall no animal ate other animals, otherwise there would have been death before Adam's first sin, which is said to be the cause of death. Ed.)
Genesis 1:31
Ver. 31. And God saw everything that he had made,.... Either all that he had made on the several six days of the creation, he took a survey of them, looked over them again, as workmen do when they have finished their work, to see if anything is amiss or wanting; not that anything of this nature can be supposed in the works of God, but such a survey is attributed to him after the manner of men, to show the completeness of his works, and the excellency of them. Picherellus {q} limits this to what had been done on this day, with respect to man, who alone, as he thinks, was the subject of this day's work; and so it respects the creation of man after the image and likeness of God; the forming of the woman out of his rib, and so providing a suitable helper for him; giving them dominion over all the creatures, and suitable food for the support of the animal life; and God reflected on this, and foresaw it would be good in the issue, as it was in itself.
And behold, [it was] very good; it had been said of everything else, at the close of each day's work, excepting the second, that it was good; but here the expression is stronger upon the creation of man, the chief and principal work of God, that it was "very good"; he being made upright and holy, bearing the image of his Creator upon him, and in such circumstances as to be happy and comfortable himself, and to glorify God: the phrase may be expressive not only of the goodness of everything God had made, as it was in itself, and in its use; but of his complacency, and delight therein, every thing being made for himself and for, his pleasure, Re 4:11
and the evening and the morning were the sixth day; by that time all these works on this day were finished; the sun had gone round the earth, or the earth about that, for the space of twenty four hours, which completed the sixth day, within which term of time God had determined to finish all his works, as he did. This day, according to Capellus, was the twenty third of April, and, according, to Archbishop Usher, the twenty eighth of October, or, as others, the sixth of September. Mr. Whiston, as has been before observed, is of opinion, that the six days of the creation were equal to six years: and the Persians have a tradition, which they pretend to have received from Zoroastres, that God created the world, not in six natural days, but in six times or spaces of different length, called in their tongue "Ghahan barha". The first of these spaces, in which the heavens were created, was a space of forty five days; the second, in which the waters were created, sixty days; the third, in which the earth was created, seventy five days; the fourth, in which grass and trees were created, thirty days; the fifth, in which all creatures were made, eighty days; the sixth, in which man was created, seventy five days; in all three hundred sixty five days, or a full year {r}. The first of the six principal good works they are taught to do is to observe the times of the creation {s}. And the ancient Tuscans or Etrurians allot six thousand years to the creation; the order of which, with them, is much the same with the Mosaic account, only making a day a thousand years: in the first thousand, they say, God made the heaven and the earth; in the next, the firmament, which appears to us, calling it heaven; in the third, the sea, and all the waters that are in the earth; in the fourth, the great lights, the sun and moon, and also the stars; in the fifth, every volatile, reptile, and four footed animal, in the air, earth and water, (which agrees with Picherellus); See Gill on "Ge 1:25" and in the sixth, man; and whereas they say God employed twelve thousand years in all his creation, and the first six being passed at the creation of man, it seems, according to them, that mankind are to continue for the other six thousand years {t}. And it is a notion that obtains among the Jews, that, answerable to the six days of creation, the world will continue six thousand years. It is a tradition of Elias {u}, an ancient Jewish doctor, that
"the world shall stand six thousand years, two thousand void, two thousand under the law, and two thousand, the days of the Messiah.''
And Baal Hatturim {w} observes, there are six "alephs" in the first verse of this chapter, answerable to the six thousand years the world is to continue: and R. Gedaliah says {x}, at the end of the sixth millennium the world shall return without form and void, (to its former condition, "tohu" and "bohu",) and the whole shall be a sabbath: and very particular is another writer {y} of theirs concerning these six days of the creation, who having spoken of the day of judgment, the resurrection of the dead, and the world to come, observes, that the six days' work is an intimation and sign of these things: on the sixth day man was created, and the work was perfected on the seventh; so the kings of the nations shall be in the world five thousand years, answerable to the five days in which the fowls, and creeping things of the waters, and the rest, were created; and the holding of their kingdoms will be a little within the sixth millennium, answerable to the creation of cattle and beasts, who were now created on the beginning of it, the "sixth day"; and the kingdom of the house of David will be in the sixth millennium, answerable to the creation of man, who knew his Creator, and ruled over them all; and at the end of that millennium will be the day of judgment, answerable to man's being judged at the end of it, "the sixth day; and the seventh millennium will be the sabbath". And a like notion obtains among the Persian Magi; it is said that Zerdusht, or Zoroastres, was born in the middle age of the world, so it was told him from the age of Keiomaras (the first man) unto thy age are 3000 years, and from this thy age unto the resurrection are 3000 years {z}.
{q} In Cosmopoeiam, p. 2841. {r} Hyde Hist. Relig. vet. Pers. p. 164, 166, 168, 483, 484. {s} Lib. Sad-der, port. 6. 94. apud Hyde, ib. p. 439, 483. {t} See Universal History, vol. 1. p. 64. {u} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 97. 1. Avoda Zara, fol. 9. 1. {w} Comment. in Gen. i. 1. {x} Shalshelet Hakabala, fol. 36. 1. {y} Comment. in Maimon. Hilch. Teshuva, c. 9. sect. 2. {z} Lib. Sad-der, port. 11. Vid. Hyde, ut supra, (Hist. Relig. vet. Pers. p. 481.)
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
The first verse of the Bible gives us a satisfying and
useful account of the origin of the earth and the heavens. The faith
of humble Christians understands this better than the fancy of the
most learned men. From what we see of heaven and earth, we
learn the power of the great Creator. And let our make and place as
men, remind us of our duty as Christians, always to keep heaven in
our eye, and the earth under our feet. The Son of God, one with the
Father, was with him when he made the world; nay, we are often
told that the world was made by him, and nothing was made without
him. Oh, what high thoughts should there be in our minds, of that
great God whom we worship, and of that great Mediator in whose
name we pray! And here, at the beginning of the sacred volume, we
read of that Divine Spirit, whose work upon the heart of man is so
often mentioned in other parts of the Bible. Observe, that at first
there was nothing desirable to be seen, for the world was without
form, and void; it was confusion, and emptiness. In like manner the
work of grace in the soul is a new creation: and in a graceless soul,
one that is not born again, there is disorder, confusion, and every
evil work: it is empty of all good, for it is without God; it is dark, it is
darkness itself: this is our condition by nature, till Almighty grace
works a change in us.
The first verse of the Bible gives us a satisfying and
useful account of the origin of the earth and the heavens. The faith
of humble Christians understands this better than the fancy of the
most learned men.
Observe, that at first
there was nothing desirable to be seen, for the world was without
form, and void; it was confusion, and emptiness. In like manner the
work of grace in the soul is a new creation: and in a graceless soul,
one that is not born again, there is disorder, confusion, and every
evil work: it is empty of all good, for it is without God; it is dark, it is
darkness itself: this is our condition by nature, till Almighty grace
works a change in us.
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary