And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be a division between waters and waters.
On the second day God speaks again. He calls for a space in the middle of the waters, to divide them in two. Two questions follow: what is this "expanse," and why do the waters need dividing?
Older English Bibles read "firmament," which sounds hard and fixed. One writer traces where that word came from:
The Hebrew word translated "firmament" would be better given as "expanse," as it is marked in the reference column in some editions of our Bibles. The word "firmament" comes from the Vulgate translation of the Bible in Latin by Jerome, and is unfortunate. The idea came to him from the ancients. Greek and Roman philosophies described heaven as forming a solid vault over the earth.
The Bible itself never pictures a metal ceiling:
A solid vault is out of the question… The Scriptures really present the heavens as spread out, and the earth hung upon nothing. They nowhere support the crude idea of stars fastened like brass nails on a metal vault.
Heaven was already named in the first verse of the chapter. So why does it appear again here? Scripture uses the word at more than one level:
On the second day God called a "firmament," or "expanse," into being; a further division, not now of light from darkness but of waters from waters. God called this expanse, Heaven. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we should call the starry heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens… As a result of the work of the second day, an atmosphere surrounded the earth. He did it by His word, "God said … and it was so."
Kelly counts three heavens in Scripture:
The New Testament tells how Paul was caught up into the third heaven… Here God made another heaven, since man was about to be made. There is the heaven of His presence. There is the heaven of the stars, planets, and other objects in space. And there is the atmospheric heaven that man and living things here below need.
The two bodies of water are not alike, and one of them hangs over our heads every day:
The waters upon the earth are the salt, bitter waters of the ocean; while those above, though drawn from the ocean, are perfectly fresh. It is beautiful to see how these waters in vast and inconceivable volume are suspended in those "balancing clouds" which lift them above the earth and yet hold them in connection with it, ever ready to pour down in beneficent rain the treasures which they hold.
Take away this arrangement and life on earth becomes impossible:
God drew man's attention to His thoughtful and almighty goodness when He separated "waters from waters." Otherwise endless mist would have filled the space above the earth, without the right mixture of gases that makes up the air every living thing needs. To the air's work, with other causes God set up, we owe clouds, rain, and evaporation. It also bends and reflects light, softening it, which adds much to the beauty and usefulness of creation. Without it a black sky would have cast a constant shadow over the earth.
The words "and God saw that it was good," repeated through the chapter, are missing from the second day. One writer links that silence to the kind of work done:
Nothing new was made on the second day. God separated the waters above from the waters below, leaving the heavens free as an expanse between them. But no new substance was created, so the day is not said to be very good.
One writer draws a lesson from the shape of the day:
If the first day pictures God beginning His work in a soul by new birth, the second day shows a person made to look up. True blessing comes from above, and so does authority… All below may look like a watery waste with no order. Yet if the believer is refreshed by the pure water of God's word from above, in true subjection to the Lord Jesus, his life can change greatly from disorder into calm, orderly obedience.
- Expanse. The Hebrew word means an open, spread-out sky. "Firmament" came through the Latin and sounds hard, which the text never was.
- Above. The expanse lifts fresh water over the salt sea. It holds that water in clouds, ready to fall as rain.
- Named. God calls the expanse "Heaven." It is not the starry heaven of verse 1, and not the heaven of His presence, but the air made for creatures below.
- Given. Kelly reads the day as thoughtful goodness: without this air there is no rain, no softened light, no life.
- Upward. Earth is set under heaven and fed from it. So the day teaches the soul to look up: blessing, refreshment, and authority all come from above.
And God made the expanse, and divided between the waters that are under the expanse and the waters that are above the expanse; and it was so.
On the second day God speaks, and an "expanse" splits one mass of water into two: some below, some above. Commentators ask what that word means, why God makes rather than creates here, and why a sky full of clouds matters so much.
Older English Bibles say "firmament," a word that suggests something hard and fixed.
It is now widely known — and the most competent Hebrew scholars said so long before modern science existed — that "expanse" is the real force of the original word, not "firmament." That word came to us through the Latin Vulgate, and seems to come from the Greek Septuagint... The way the word is used in this chapter itself (verses 15, 17, 20, 28) proves that it means the open, transparent sky, whatever readers may have misunderstood at any time.
Genesis uses different verbs across the chapter. Verse 7 belongs to the group where God shapes what is already there.
From this point God begins to work again. We read not only of God creating (Gen. 1:21, 27) but of His making (Gen. 1:7, 16, 25), and finally of His forming man (Gen. 2:7). The last two words apply when the question is not producing something out of nothing. They speak of shaping matter that already exists into fresh forms of order and beauty.
Verse 1 already mentioned the heaven. Genesis uses that word for two different things.
On the second day God called a "firmament," or "expanse," into being. As a result a further division took place — not now of light from darkness, but of waters from waters. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we should call the stellar heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens. There immense quantities of water float above in the form of clouds, divided from the far greater quantities lying on the earth beneath. The work of the second day surrounded the earth with an atmosphere. His word accomplished it: "God said … and it was so."
The two bodies of water differ in more than location.
The waters upon the earth are the salt, bitter waters of the ocean, while those above, though drawn from the ocean, are perfectly fresh. This is a true picture of what the expanse of the atmosphere is: a separation between the waters on the earth and those in the heavens, not a hard and fast line. It can be filled with vapour, and yet in general it arches above us, making a true separation, just as Scripture describes here.
The verse reads like plain physics. But one commentator asks what the world would be like if this single act had not happened.
God drew man's attention to His thoughtful and almighty goodness when He separated "waters from waters." Otherwise the space above the earth would have been filled with constant vapour. It would have lacked the right mixture of gases that makes up the air, which all life on earth needs. To the workings of that air, with other causes God set in place, we owe the forming of clouds, the fall of rain and evaporation. To its power of bending and reflecting light we owe that softening of light which adds so much to the beauty and the usefulness of creation. Otherwise a black sky would have cast its constant covering over the earth.
The second day never gets the verdict "it was good." One explanation ties that silence back to the verb in verse 7.
Nothing was made the second day — that is, no new thing. The separation of waters above and below, leaving the heavens free as an expanse between, was not a new substance created, and so it is not said to be very good.
One writer also reads the days as a picture of how God works in a person.
If the first day pictures God beginning His work in a soul by new birth, the second day shows that one has reason to look up and see that true blessing comes from above. And so authority comes from above too... All below may seem a watery waste with no order. Yet when a believer is refreshed by the pure water of God's word from above, in true subjection to the Lord Jesus, his life may be greatly changed from disorder into calm, orderly obedience, even when surrounded by the swelling seas of the world's confusion.
- Expanse. The original word means open, transparent sky, not a hard dome. "Firmament" came in through later translations.
- Made. God shapes matter that already exists; He does not create from nothing here. One writer gives that as the reason no verdict of "good" is spoken over this day.
- Divided. One water becomes two: salt ocean below, fresh cloud above, with breathable air arching between them.
- Sustained. That one division gives rain, evaporation and softened light instead of a black sky. One writer calls it God's thoughtful and almighty goodness.
- Upward. Read as a picture, the day teaches that blessing and authority come from above. Under that authority, a soul's disorder turns into calm obedience.
And God called the expanse Heavens. And there was evening, and there was morning -- a second day.
Day two ends with a name: God calls the expanse He stretched between the waters Heaven. Two questions follow — which "heaven" is this, and why is this the only day God never calls "good"?
Scripture uses "heaven" for more than one thing. Verse 1 and verse 8 do not point to the same place:
On the second day God brought a "firmament," or "expanse," into being. This made a further division — not light from darkness now, but waters from waters. God called this expanse Heaven. In verse 1 "the heaven" means what we would call the starry heavens. In verse 8 it means the atmospheric heavens. That is where huge amounts of water float above us as clouds, divided from the far greater amounts lying on the earth below. So the work of the second day left the earth wrapped in an atmosphere. He did it by His word: "God said … and it was so."
English Bibles long read "firmament," a word that sounds solid. That is not the force of the Hebrew:
It is now widely known — and the best Hebrew scholars said so long before modern science existed — that "expanse" is the real force of the original word, not "firmament," which reached us through the old Latin translation, the Vulgate, and seems to come from the older Greek one, the Septuagint... The way the word is used in this very chapter (vv. 15, 17, 20, 28) is proof enough that it carries the idea of the open, clear sky, whatever readers may have misunderstood at any time.
The same word covers a wide range:
The Hebrew word is raqia, meaning 'expanse.' It covers both the sky we see when we look up and the air in which the birds fly. We read that God called the expanse 'heaven.' This is 'heaven' in a broad sense, for elsewhere we read of 'the stars of heaven,' but also of 'the birds of heaven.'
The naming is not decoration. It marks out what belongs to God to define and what He later hands over to man:
We have now had five things before us, and God Himself gave the name to each. We note this because in the next chapter God brings the living creatures He had made on the fifth and sixth days to Adam, so that he might name them... God let Adam show his skill of discernment in many a smaller detail, but these five things he had to accept as named by God — Day, Night, Heaven, Earth, Seas.
That division wrapped the earth in air. One writer lists what hangs on it:
The air's workings, with other causes God set in place, give us the forming of clouds, the fall of rain, and evaporation. Because the air bends and reflects light, we get that softening of light which adds beyond measure to the beauty of creation, and just as much to its usefulness. Otherwise a black sky would have hung over the earth like a constant shroud... And if dry land had survived anywhere, it must have been a dry, barren waste with no animal life and not a blade of grass.
Every other day carries God's approval. This one does not, and commentators differ on the reason. One takes it as a matter of substance:
God made nothing on the second day — that is, nothing new. Dividing the waters above from the waters below, and leaving the heavens free as an expanse between, created no new substance, so Scripture does not call it very good.
Another writer finds the silence itself meaningful. He points to what fills these heavens so far:
Nothing fills these heavens as yet but "waters" — waters above as well as below — the very picture of instability... And it seems telling that on this second day there is no voice of God calling "good" what is still for good. In His providence He may be working blessing through what He cannot bless in itself.
Once a sky exists, everything below depends on what is above it:
This heaven is clearly the atmospheric heaven, and the waters above are no doubt the waters held in the clouds... the second day shows us that we have reason to look up and see that true blessing comes from above, and so authority comes from above too. "The heavens do rule" (Dan. 4:26).
(The ESV reads "Heaven rules" in Daniel 4:26.)
- Named. God calls the expanse Heaven — one of five names He fixes Himself, leaving the animals for Adam to name later.
- Expanse. The Hebrew word raqia means an open, spread-out sky — not the solid dome that "firmament" suggests.
- Divided. Waters above, waters below, breathable air between — the arrangement that gives clouds, rain, and light we can live under.
- Unpraised. This is the only day God never calls good. Some writers say nothing new was made; others hear meaning in the silence.
- Above. With the sky in place, everything below depends on what is above it: blessing and authority come down from heaven.
And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry [land] appear. And it was so.
On the third day of creation God speaks to the waters, and land appears for the first time. Commentators read this as plain history: the shaping of the world we still live on. They also read it as a picture of how God brings order, stability and fruit out of what had no shape.
Before this command, water covered everything. Writers point out that the land had to rise before it could appear at all. They also note that the one gathering place for the waters matches the world as we find it.
First He commands the waters under the heavens to gather into one place, so that dry land can appear. People have noticed that all the seas of the world connect with each other, while the land masses do not. Moses could not have known this unless God revealed it to him. For the dry land to appear, it had to rise above the level of the water. Deep water still covers much land. Dry land takes up less than a third of this planet's surface.
What was fixed on that day was not temporary. The continents and oceans described here are the same ones people still map and sail.
Sudden, extraordinary acts brought about what God then did for man. Slow, ordinary causes played their part too. But here we learn that God laid down the great landmarks that remain to this day.
The first two days brought divisions of light and of waters. This third division produces something new: a surface that stays put.
Again on the third day there was division. The waters above the expanse stayed as they were. God gathered the waters beneath into one place, and dry land appeared. Solid, fixed ground now appeared where everything had been unsettled and moving.
God speaks, and it is done. Writers treat His word as the firmest ground a person can stand on.
We may well believe His word, since by the word of God all things came into being and continue... The word of God is the authority the believer needs, and the believer is called to obey it in faith. The ground of faith is: "The Lord has said."
Look back over the three days and one pattern keeps repeating. Each act of God draws a line between two things that were mixed.
This gathering of the waters into their own place begins the great period of earth's history that we still live in. Except for the flood, when water covered everything for a time, the dry land has always been visible... Notice that God's work from the beginning was work of separating. He separated light from darkness. He separated the waters above the expanse from the waters beneath. And here again He separates the dry land from the waves that had covered it and hidden it.
The waters are not destroyed. They are given a place, a limit, and — for the first time — a name from God.
The "third day" speaks of resurrection to the Christian heart. Here it is marked by resurrection power: the earth comes up out of the waters. What can be worked and made fruitful now rises from under the waste of sea that could never be reclaimed. The sea is not removed, but bounded and restrained; it cannot return to cover the earth. God acknowledges that the sea exists. He names it for the first time. In the new earth there will be no sea.
The same picture applies to a person. It explains why unrest inside us is limited instead of removed.
It was like this with the darkness, and now it is like this with the waters. God does not remove them completely. He controls them and sets their limits. The same is true of everything that causes uncertainty, unrest and barrenness in the soul. God does not remove it. He gives it limits it cannot pass, so it can never again cover the ground.
Commentators differ on how far to press the picture. Several read land and sea as a lasting symbol used later in Scripture.
This illustrates the relation of Israel to the nations. The sea is a picture of the nations, who are out of control. Daniel 7:3 tells us of four great beasts coming up from the sea. These are not real beasts or a real sea. They stand for four great world empires that rise up among the nations.
- Command — God speaks, and the waters obey at once; His word is the reason the world has the shape it has.
- Separation — one method runs through all three days: light from darkness, waters from waters, land from sea.
- Stability — ground now stays fixed where everything had been moving. These landmarks remain to this day.
- Boundary — the sea is not abolished but named and limited, so it can never again cover the earth.
- Fruitfulness — dry land is the necessary first step; only once there is firm ground can anything grow on it.
And God called the dry [land] Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
The third day of creation ends with two names and a verdict. Behind those simple words lie real questions: what do the names cover, why does God divide at all, and what does the ordered world of land and sea picture?
Here God gives names, not new acts of power. This naming runs through the whole chapter, and one writer shows how much it tells us.
Everything is divine. God said, God saw, God called. We see His thoughts, words, and acts all the way through. And so everything is very good. Sadly, it is when the creature begins to act that everything is spoiled. Notice too how God gives everything its name! He calls as well as makes all things. Night and day, heaven, earth, and seas all receive their names from Him as well as their existence. God left man to name what was for man's use and under man's control.
The closing words are a marker. They end the first block of God's work in this account.
There is another division in Genesis 1 besides creation and the days, made by the words "and God saw" and "it was good." First He creates. Then He separates the elements to make order out of disorder… Then water and dry land, giving each its name; and the world so prepared He pronounces "good." That is the first division — an ordered world.
Seas covers more than the oceans on a modern map. The landscape God named here is the one we still live in.
The earth was to have, for the most part, the shape God saw best fitted for His new purpose. There would be vast continents and vaster oceans, islands large and small, lakes salt and fresh, mountains and rivers, plains and valleys. Deep and sudden upheaval, not just slow erosion, often shaped those valleys. In Hebrew usage the "seas" take in all large collections of water — oceans, seas, lakes, and even rivers… here we learn that God laid down the great landmarks that remain to this day.
One writer points to a detail Moses had no way of checking.
It has been observed that all the seas of the world are connected, while all the land is not. Moses could never have known this unless God revealed it to him. For the dry land to appear it would have to be raised up above the level of the water. Some land remains covered by great depths of water, for the dry land on this planet takes up less than one third of its surface.
God does not remove the sea on this day. He gives it a limit and a name.
The "third day" speaks to the Christian heart of resurrection. Resurrection power marks it here: the earth comes up out of the waters. What can be worked on and made fruitful is now brought up from under the hopeless waste of sea. That sea is not removed, but bounded and restrained; it cannot return to cover the earth. Its existence is indeed openly recognised; it gets its name from God for the first time; in the new earth there will be none (Revelation 21:1). Meanwhile He lays the foundations of the earth, so that it should never be moved.
Commentators read the picture in two directions. One takes the restless water as a figure of what is unstable in people.
The land speaks of what is solid and stable, in contrast to the unstable mass of the waters of the oceans. The heaving waters speak of the flesh in its unstable emptiness, whether the flesh in unbelievers or in believers. In the same way, Revelation 17:15 speaks of the waters as "peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues." There you see the flesh in all its constant turmoil and disorder. These are the waters of the seas, in contrast to the waters from above — the rain that stands for the blessing of God by His word (Isaiah 55:10-11). This separation of earth from the waters God saw to be good.
Another writer asks what this division pictures.
No doubt in Genesis 1 the Earth refers to the whole land surface, just as the Seas refers to the oceans that circle the globe. But what does this division between the Earth and the Seas picture? The Earth stands for the land of Israel.
- Separation. God makes order out of disorder by dividing. Light from darkness, then waters above from waters below, and here dry land from sea.
- Naming. He calls as well as makes. Earth and seas take their names from Him; man names only what God put under his control.
- Bounding. God limits the sea rather than removing it. It cannot return to cover the earth, and in the new earth there will be none.
- Picture. Solid land rising out of restless water speaks of resurrection, and of what is stable set against the unstable flesh.
- Verdict. With land and sea each in its place, God calls the ordered world good — and the landmarks He set then remain to this day.
And God said, Let the earth cause grass to spring up, herb producing seed, fruit-trees yielding fruit after their kind, the seed of which is in them, on the earth. And it was so.
God's first word on the third day divided sea from dry land. His second word calls that bare land to clothe itself with life — plants that carry their own seed, each one true to its kind.
Nothing here grows out of what came before. Every stage begins again with God speaking:
Every stage is produced by His Word. Each time, God speaks. This is not simply the unfolding of what was already hidden in the earliest seed. Step by step, God puts out His power and carries out plans that are wholly His own. "We are His workmanship" — the patient, perfect work of the wisdom of God — "created in Christ Jesus."
The verse describes a fruit tree that already carries seed inside it. That order reverses what we watch in nature today:
On the third day God speaks a second time. He commands the earth to "sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind." This settles any objection that the tree could not be there until the seed was planted. If God had wanted to create the seed first, He could easily have done so. But He commanded the earth's fruit to come out before any seed went into the ground. That was just as simple for Him as doing it the other way round.
The phrase "according to its kind" appears here for the first time, and it arrives with reproduction itself. Older translations render it "after his kind":
The second point is this. As soon as this chapter touches life — life of the kind that reproduces its species, whether plant, tree, fish, bird, creeping thing, or cattle — it lays down the unchanging law that governs all such reproduction in three words: "after his kind." This points us to a fact that keeps proving itself in a thousand ways. Breeding and selection may modify a species within certain limits, but nothing can alter the species.
Another writer asks what the repeated phrase was meant to teach:
But what did this often-repeated phrase, "After his kind," mean? The Spirit of God surely meant something very definite by it. It states plainly that each species in nature is distinct from every other. One species never blends into another. Nothing in nature changes from one species into another.
Plants come before any creature that could eat them. God dresses and stocks the land before a single creature is there to feed on it:
But there is a second part of His work to notice: plant life for the earth as it now is, the kingdom that stands between minerals and animals. God commanded the earth to bring out grass, plants producing seed, and fruit trees yielding fruit after their kind, with their seed in them — and Scripture says it here with great emphasis. This is the true origin of plant species for the earth of Adam. God had pronounced the dry land and the seas good; now He says the same of the beautiful clothing of the dry land and the rich supplies for man and beast — food that at first was the only food even for man.
Note which day this happens on. Commentators connect the third day with resurrection:
But God also stamped the third day at creation in a remarkable way. Before that day the waters of death covered everything. On that day the waters drew back, and living, fruitful things sprang out of the dry land... And twice on this day, and on this day only, we are told that "God saw that it was good." What could that be for, except to teach us that the third day — the day of life springing out of death — was good not only in creation, but also in resurrection?
Read that way, the seed hidden inside the fruit points forward to one Seed in particular:
On the third day He made the grass, the plants, and the fruit trees yielding after their kind, with their seed in them (Gen. 1:11; 2:5) — the day which points us to resurrection... The Seed of promise is CHRIST... and all in that line are "after their kind"; but death, being made alive, and resurrection were needed if lasting fruitfulness was to come.
- Word — every stage of creation starts with God speaking; nothing simply unfolds from an earlier seed.
- Order — the tree came before the seed, and God could as easily have done the reverse; He chose this one.
- Kind — where life reproduces, God fixes the law "according to its kind": a limit breeding can stretch but never break.
- Provision — God lays the table before the guests arrive; plants clothe the land and feed man and beast.
- Resurrection — on the third day life sprang from ground the waters of death had covered, and God called it good twice.
And the earth brought forth grass, herb producing seed after its kind, and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in them, after their kind. And God saw that it was good.
On the third day the earth does what God told it to do. The report repeats His command almost word for word. Two things stand out: every plant and tree comes "according to their own kinds," and God calls the result good.
God spoke to the ground itself, and what came up was the plant life of the world we still live in.
God commanded the earth to bring out grass, plants that make seed, and fruit trees that bear fruit according to their kind, with the seed inside the fruit. The verse states this with great emphasis. This is the true origin of plant species for the earth of Adam. God had already called the dry land and the seas good. Now the beautiful clothing of that dry land is good as well, with its rich supplies for man and beast — at first the only food even for man.
The phrase repeats through the chapter. Pollock counts how often it appears, and asks what it is there for.
In Genesis 1 the formula — "according to its kind" — appears ten times. It covers plants in verse 11, sea life and birds in verse 21, and last of all the beasts of the earth, the cattle and everything that creeps on the earth in verse 25. Why "according to its kind"? It leaves room for each species. The lion does not mate with the tigress. The eagle does not pair with the goose. The wasp does not breed with the bee. Man arranges the only hybrids in creation, and they are sterile and come to nothing.
Notice the order. Full-grown plants and trees come first, and the seed is inside them.
The passage quoted makes it clear that God created plant life full-grown and mature… So the tree came before the seed, not the other way round. But evolution insists on a universal law of progress from "low to high," from immaturity to maturity, from the structureless cell to the perfect organization. We are asked to accept either an unproved theory or an inspired history, and here the believer has no choice.
Plants appear on day three. God does not set the sun in its place until day four.
God created life, and He keeps it going… We can see the wisdom of what He shows us in this day. How many wise men have dreamed and thought that the sun was the source of all life! Yet the plants were formed when the sun was not yet set to do its all-important work for the earth of man.
The third day has a shape to it. Water covered everything, then dry land appeared and life sprang from it.
Before that day the waters of death covered everything. On that day the waters drew back, and living, fruitful things sprang out of the dry land… Twice on this day, and on this day only, Scripture says that "God saw that it was good." What can this be for, if not to teach us that the third day — the day of life springing out of death — was good not only as creation, but also as resurrection?
The three forms — grass, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees — also picture stages of growth in a believer, from new faith to maturity.
The grass, the plants and the fruit tree illustrate the development of spiritual life in the child of God. The fresh green grass reminds us of the freshness of the faith of "little children"… The plant yielding seed is a picture of the energy of the "young men"… The fruit tree shows the maturity of "fathers," who know the Lord Jesus in a settled way and bear fruit for Him freely.
The seed sits inside the fruit, and that detail carries a lesson of its own.
There is progress; from grass and plant to "trees bearing fruit in which is their seed" — another beautiful picture. The fruit carries inside itself the power to reproduce. The fruit itself is for the Master's use, and it is well to remember that. The seed is in this fruit according to its kind — love to produce love, and so on. If we want to find love, we must show it. The riper the fruit is for the Master's taste, the riper the seed is too. The best ripe fruit is the fruit that has hung in the sun most.
- Kind — "According to its kind" appears ten times in the chapter. It fixes each species, so one kind never turns into another.
- Order — The tree comes before the seed, full-grown and complete. That is the reverse of what evolution needs.
- Source — Plants live before the sun is set in its place, so life comes from God, not from the sun.
- Sign — Land rises from the waters, and life springs out of it. Only on this day does God say twice that it was good — the mark of resurrection.
- Seed — Fruit carries its seed inside, so real fruit reproduces itself. Love produces love, and the ripest fruit has hung longest in the sun.
And there was evening, and there was morning -- a third day.
The third day closes with the familiar words about evening and morning. But this day is unlike the others: twice on this day God calls His work good. Commentators read the day on two levels. It was a real day, when God gathered the waters and clothed the earth. It also pictures life rising out of death.
The repeat of evening and morning is the strongest clue to how long these days were.
People ask whether the days of Genesis 1 are literal days, or figures standing for immense periods of time... For ourselves, we believe they are literal. Scripture does use "day" in a figurative sense — "man's day," "the day of salvation," and so on. But that sense is clearly a secondary one, and the literal sense is the primary one... We must have the primary meaning settled before we can reach any secondary meaning at all, and Genesis 1 deals with primary things... The repetition of "there was evening and there was morning" fits the primary meaning, and would mean very little in the secondary sense.
What God settled on this day did not pass away with it.
The earth was now to take, for the most part, the form God saw best fitted for His new purpose: vast continents and vaster oceans, islands large and small, lakes salt and fresh, mountains and rivers, plains and valleys. Those valleys were not merely worn down by slow erosion, but often broken open deeply and suddenly... In Hebrew usage the word "seas" takes in all large collections of water — oceans, seas, lakes, and even rivers... here we learn that God laid down the great landmarks which abide to this day.
Some have tried to match the third day with the long ages that produced the coal beds. Kelly answers by looking at what the text names: grass, seed-bearing herbs, fruit trees.
How absurd to take the third day before us and identify it with the Carboniferous age, the age that laid the basis for the coal beds! What real likeness is there between coal-plants and the grass, herb and tree, so clearly meant to feed animals, and above all man?... This is plainly not provision for coal, but for the food and refreshment of man and cattle, of bird and beast... For geologic eras it is a failure; for man's world it is the simple and fitting truth. It was plant-life for Adam's earth.
The phrase attached to the herb and the fruit tree here returns again and again through the chapter, and writers see it as a fixed law stamped on living things.
This is confirmed in Genesis 1 where the formula — "after his kind" — is repeated ten times. It is applied to the vegetable kingdom in verse 11, to the marine world in verse 21, and again to the winged birds in the same verse, and finally to the beasts of the earth and cattle and everything that creeps upon the earth in verse 25. Why "after his kind"? That clearly leaves room for each species. The lion does not mate with the tigress. The eagle does not consort with the goose. The wasp does not breed with the bee.
The double "good" belongs to this day alone. One writer sees in it a meaning that reaches past creation.
God also put a striking mark on the third day at creation. Before that day the waters of death covered everything. On that day the waters drew back, and living, fruitful things sprang out of the dry land... On this day, and on this day only, we are told twice that "God saw that it was good." Why twice? Surely to teach us that the third day, the day of life springing out of death, was good not only as to creation, but also as to resurrection.
Notice the order within the day: grass first, then herb, then the tree whose fruit holds seed inside it.
Then as to the fruit. There is progress; from grass and herb to "fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, on the earth" — another beautiful figure that. The fruit carries within itself the power to keep itself going. The fruit is for the Master's use, and it is well to remember that. The seed is in this fruit according to its kind — love to produce love, and so on. If we want to find love, we must show it. And the riper the fruit is for the Master's taste, the riper the seed is also; the best ripe fruit is that which has hung in the sun most.
- Day — Evening and morning mark off an ordinary day. The figurative sense of "day" is only a secondary one.
- Boundary — God gathered the waters and raised the dry land. The landmarks He set that day still shape the earth.
- Provision — The grass, herb and fruit tree were not a fossil stage but food for man and beast.
- Fruit — Life rose out of the waters of death and bore fruit with the seed inside. The third day carries the mark of resurrection, and that life keeps reproducing itself.
And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
On the fourth day God sets lights in the sky and gives them work to do. Two old questions follow: is this the moment the sun was made, and what are the "signs"?
The verse does not record the making of the sun and moon. Commentators point back to verse 1.
It is certainly not the creation of the sun and so on. Moses does not say that. He says only that God now set the heavenly lights in place, after the plants and before the animals, for the earth that man would live in. Light had shone in another way since the first day of the great week. Now He set the light-bearers of the heavens to do their assigned work, but it is for the earth, and indeed for man. Verse 1 already implied their creation, for God did not create either heaven or earth empty. And what would heaven be without its host? … On the fourth day He gave the lights of heaven their unhindered place, to divide the day from the night.
The chapter measures the heavens by what they do for the earth below. Size is not the standard here.
It is only their relation to man on earth that shows the exact fitness of the phrase "the two great lights." He who created all things and inspired Moses knew the size of every body in heaven better than Newton or Laplace. But think of what helps man on earth, and Israel especially, and every creature under them. For giving light by day and night, what were all the rest compared to the sun and moon?
One misuse of the word is to read fortunes in the stars.
Scripture says the lights in the expanse of the heavens are for "signs" as well as for "seasons." People have wrongly used this passage, treating the varied positions of the sun, moon and planets as a way to foretell events. Of what, then, are they signs? Psalm 19:1-6 perhaps answers that. The huge distances between the heavenly bodies, and the wonderful regularity of their movements, are a sign of the glory of the One who created them.
The word carries a second sense. God has made the sky speak at key moments in Israel's history.
We see what a sign it was to Israel when Joshua said in their hearing, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." In far different days the Lord spoke to sick Hezekiah, and gave him a sign in the shadow that went back ten steps on the dial of Ahaz. And what a sign again at the cross of the Messiah, when all was lost as far as man is concerned! Darkness covered all the land for three hours. A mere eclipse was impossible then.
The word behind "seasons" carries more than one shade of meaning, and commentators weigh which one fits.
No comment is needed on "seasons": man alone on earth understands and values these fitting, recurring times. The same Hebrew word means "the congregation" and "the solemn feast," as well as the season or appointed time at which they kept it. So "seasons" may have a sacred sense, but the more ordinary sense seems confirmed by what follows. Very little astronomy is needed to know how "days and years" are marked out by these lights, but only for man.
Commentators also read the fourth day as a picture, where light in the sky stands for light of another kind.
The lights set in the heavens speak very plainly of Christ and of the Church… Here Christ, revealed by the Holy Spirit, shines out for men in the word of His grace. The Church is the responsible reflector of Christ, His letter to the world… Let this scene preach to us that all true and divine light now is heavenly. To let our "light shine" is nothing else than to let men see we belong to another sphere.
For a single believer, the fourth day points away from self.
The sun speaks of the Lord Jesus, "the Sun of Righteousness" (Malachi 4:2), whose brightness is so welcome, yet too dazzling for our eyes… The fourth day teaches us that we must have a proper Object outside of ourselves and of our fruitfulness. The person of the Lord Jesus is that Object. When we are blessed with the sight of His own glory, this lifts our hearts above our circumstances, and above our own spiritual state and experience.
- Appointed — God is not creating the sun here; He is setting it to work, dividing day from night.
- Aimed at earth — sun and moon rank as the great lights because the record measures them by what they do for man, marking his days, years and seasons.
- Signs upward — their steady order points to the glory of their Maker, not to fortunes read in the stars.
- Signs in history — the sun standing still for Joshua, the shadow going back for Hezekiah, darkness at the cross.
- Signs for us — Christ shines and the Church reflects Him; borrow all your light, and let others see where it comes from.
and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth. And it was so.
On the fourth day God does not make new matter; He gives the lights of the sky a job, and that job is measured by the earth below. So were the sun and moon made here for the first time, or only set to work for us?
One writer weighs what the text says and what it does not say.
It is certainly not the creation of the sun and the rest. The inspired historian does not say this. He says only that God now appointed the heavenly lights for the earth of Adam's day, after the plants and before the animals. Light had shone in another way since the first day of the great week. Now He set the light-bearers of the heavens to do their assigned work, but it is for the earth, and indeed for man. Their creation was implied in verse 1, for God did not create either heaven or earth empty; and what would heaven be without its host? ... The same design is repeated: they are to be lights in the expanse of the heavens. It was their effect, not their structure, that is meant.
Another writer names the opposite view, then gives his reason for rejecting it.
Some have thought that light was independent of the sun, that on the first day God created the light, and that on the fourth day He created the sun. But we are not told that on the fourth day He created the sun and the moon, but that He made two great lights... What proves that they were there from the beginning, we believe, is that there was evening and morning on the first day. That shows the daily motion of the earth in relation to the sun, which gives day and night.
The record measures the sky by what it does for the earth. The stars show how far that goes.
"He made the stars also" (v. 16, in an older translation). The record mentions this only in passing, as something of much lesser importance. Many of the stars turn out to be huge, much larger than the sun. Their number is beyond counting, and their distances range into billions of light years. Yet the sun and the moon are more important to us on earth, and God's revelation is for the benefit of human beings.
The verse closes with four words that come again and again through the chapter.
Six times in the chapter the words "And God said" have the fitting sequel, "and it was so." From the very start, the word of God shows itself powerful. It never fails of its effect. How encouraging to learn this in the first chapter of the Bible, for we may be sure it applies to every word that God has spoken. When we reach the end of the story we shall be able to say with triumph, "and it was so," about every promise He has made, every prediction He has uttered.
One writer reads the sun as a picture of Christ, because of what sunrise does to a long night.
The sun is the great centre of light, and the centre of our system. The lesser bodies revolve around him and get their light from him. So we may rightly see him as a fitting symbol of Him who is soon to arise, with healing in His wings... The mists and shades of night are all scattered, and the whole creation seems to welcome the returning source of light.
One writer applies the fourth day to the present.
The lights set in the heavens speak very plainly of Christ and of the Church... Christ, revealed by the Holy Spirit, shines out for people in the word of His grace. The Church is the responsible reflector of Christ, His letter to the world... Let this scene preach to us that all true and divine light now is heavenly. To let our "light shine" is nothing else than to let people see we belong to another sphere.
The moon carries a warning as well as a lesson.
The moon is a fitting illustration of the church, and it guards against the tendency to exalt the church at the expense of her Head. It is a dark body with no light of its own, and its only usefulness lies in reflecting the light of the sun. Moonshine, strictly, there is none — it is the reflected light of the sun. So the only use the church can be in this world is shedding the light of Christ during the night of His absence.
- Set, not started. The fourth day gives the heavenly bodies their job, not their beginning. Verse 1 already implies their creation.
- Set for earth. The record measures everything by what reaches the ground. That is why stars far larger than the sun get one passing clause.
- Set by a word. Six times "God said" ends with "and it was so." That unbroken pattern stands behind every promise God has spoken since.
- Set as a picture. The greater light points to Christ, whose rising scatters the night. The lesser light points to His people, who shine in the night with borrowed light.
- Set to reflect. A dark body shines only with light it receives. That is the calling, and the limit, of any witness during the night of Christ's absence.
And God made the two great lights, the great light to rule the day, and the small light to rule the night, -- and the stars.
On the fourth day God turns from shaping the earth to filling the sky. One verse hands the day and the night to two rulers, then adds the stars in a few words. That wording raises real questions. Were the sun and moon created here? Why "made" and not "created"? And why do the stars get so little space?
The verb here is not the verb of verse 1. One writer sets the two words side by side:
Notice that the word "made" (v. 16) is not the same as "created" (v. 1). The verse does not say that sun, moon and stars were created at the time of verse 16. It says that God then appointed them as lights for the earth. The Bible is not a textbook on astronomy, yet its language is exact: it never confuses creating things with setting them in their order.
That reading answers an old objection — that light on day one without a sun is impossible:
The work of the fourth day has caused difficulty for many. Years ago, under mistaken scientific ideas, people thought light (v. 3) without the sun (v. 16) was impossible. And people did not read closely what verses 14 to 18 do say, and do not say. Sun and moon were created as given us in verse 1; they were only made as "two great lights" on the fourth day.
Calling the sun and moon the two great lights is not a ranking by size. Something else sets the scale here:
Even here, where the subject is the heavenly bodies, the record looks at them only in view of man and this earth... On the fourth day He gave the lights of heaven their unhindered place, to divide the day from the night.
The word "rule" matters. Scripture uses these lights as a picture of authority in three levels.
In this symbolism the stars stand for subordinate authority. So the sun is supreme, the moon derived, and the stars subordinate. They are also light-bearers, and God Himself sets them in the expanse of heaven. Keeping these features in mind helps when the same symbol is applied to the angels of the churches.
The lights that govern day and night also mark out time. One writer follows that to its end:
Time is tied to the "two great lights" (Gen. 1:16), which God set in the heavens "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years" (v. 14). When these disappear, time stops and eternity begins.
The verse gives the stars only three words.
One writer explains why the smaller bodies get the larger place:
The stars are mentioned as though they were incidental and of much less importance. Many of them are huge, far larger than the sun, their distances run into billions of light years, and no one can count them. Yet the sun and the moon matter more to us on earth, and God's revelation is for the benefit of human beings.
Commentators also read the greater and lesser lights as a picture of Christ and the church:
Now, as the sun is a beautiful and fitting symbol of Christ, so the moon strikingly reminds us of the Church. The source of her light is hidden from view. The world does not see Him, but she sees Him; and she is responsible to reflect His beams upon a darkened world.
The picture also sets a limit on what the church may claim:
The moon is a good illustration of the church, guarding against the tendency to exalt the church at the expense of her Head. It is a body with no light of its own, and its only usefulness lies in reflecting the light of the sun. Strictly, there is no such thing as moonshine — it is the reflected light of the sun. So the only use the church can be in this world is to shed the light of Christ during the night of His absence.
after_note: DISCUSS
These pictures need care. One writer draws the line:
People often mistake how a symbol is applied for what it means. Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness; but Sun does not mean Christ. The sun is only a symbol of glory and supreme government. God made the sun to rule the day (Gen. 1:16). It is a mistake to drop that general idea and take the sun to mean Christ.
- Made — the verb is not "created". Here God appointed the sun and moon as lights for the earth; He did not bring them into being.
- Measured — the record speaks from the earth's standpoint. "Great" means great to us, which is why huge stars get only three words.
- Ruling — the lights govern: the sun supreme, the moon derived, the stars subordinate. They also mark out time itself.
- Reflecting — the moon has no light of its own. Commentators see in it the church, shining only with light borrowed from Christ.
- Restrained — how a symbol is used is not what it means. The sun pictures supreme government, so calling the sun Christ goes too far.
And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth,
God's fourth day of work ends with an act of placing. He puts the lights where they belong and gives them a job to do. So what does it mean that God "set" them? And why does Scripture describe this work in the heavens by what it does for the earth below?
The verb "set" means more than putting something in place. One writer looks at its form:
This word first appears in Genesis 1:17, where we read that God set "two great lights" in the expanse. The verb here is in the middle (reflexive) voice, so the glory of the action belongs to the One who performed it.
Commentators read this day as the ordering of things already made, not the first making of sun and moon. Scripture mentions the stars almost in passing, and that restraint has a purpose:
I fully believe that God set the sun and the moon at this time to be for signs and seasons and years, and to make day and night. But the account looks at them here only in what they do for the earth, and only as lights. God made the two great lights, and God gave them as such. There is no creation of the bodies here. What we have is the setting up of how they appear and work, and their purpose. So when he speaks of the stars, he only reminds us that God had made them too. Instead of men worshipping them, God had distributed them to all men under heaven.
God set them in "the expanse of the heavens." That word carries a range of meaning:
The Hebrew word is raqia, meaning 'expanse.' It stands for the sky we see when we look up, and also for the air in which the birds fly. We read that God called the expanse 'heaven.' This is 'heaven' in a broad sense. Elsewhere we read of 'the stars of heaven,' but also of 'the birds of heaven.'
The whole account of this day is written from the ground up. What God pronounced good was not the newness of these bodies but the work He handed them:
God gave sun and moon to rule over the day and over the night. They were His creatures and gifts for man's use, dividing between the light and the darkness. "And God saw that it was good" — not as if they had just been created, but in the assigned work He gave them to do.
That arrangement still steadies ordinary human life, right down to navigation:
We see the wisdom and kindness of our faithful Creator in these lights above us, and we enjoy them and give thanks for them. Life would be impossible without them. They bring order, method, variety and guidance into our lives. Anyone who wants to live well and long must not ignore "the signs and seasons and days and years" for which these lights were made. The shipmaster steers his ship safely if he can take his bearings by the lights in the sky. Many a fine ship has been lost because her crew steered by dead reckoning.
God placed the lights above the earth they serve. One writer sees a pattern there for how the earth is governed:
The fourth day of creation showed that earth was to be ruled from heaven, and that the authorities were to have their place there.
One writer takes the two lights as a picture of Christ and the church:
As the sun is a beautiful and fitting symbol of Christ, so the moon strikingly reminds us of the church. The source of her light is hidden from view. The world does not see Him, but she sees Him; and she is responsible to reflect His beams upon a darkened world. The world has no other way to learn anything of Christ except through the church. "You," says the inspired apostle, "are our letter … known and read by all."
Read that way, the lights in heaven show where a believer's light must come from:
Let this scene preach to us that all true and divine light now is heavenly. To let our "light shine" is nothing else than to let people see that we belong to another sphere, and that we are not of the world, even as Christ was not. It is to let them see our faces brightened with the joy of what He is. Our hearts are satisfied with Himself, and so independent of the broken cisterns from which they try to draw refreshment.
- Set. The verb points back to the One acting; the glory of placing the lights belongs to God Himself.
- Purposed. This is not the first making of the sun and moon but the fixing of their work — and it rules out worshipping them.
- Given. They are gifts for human use, and what God calls good is the work He assigns them, not their bare existence.
- Ruling. The lights stand above the earth they light, marking out that the earth is ruled from heaven.
- Reflected. Applied to us, the light we shine is borrowed light, and its whole worth lies in showing others the One it comes from.
and to rule during the day and during the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
The wording here is careful, and readers often miss it. The fourth day sets the lights in place; it is not when they first came into being.
The work of the fourth day has caused difficulty for many. Partly because years ago, under mistaken scientific ideas, light (v. 3) without the sun (v. 16) was thought impossible. Partly because people did not carefully notice what verses 14 to 18 actually say, and do not say. Sun and moon were created as given to us in verse 1; they were only made as "two great lights" on the fourth day. Further, they were set in relation to the earth — or the earth to them, as the case may be — so that they ruled over the day and over the night. In this way they divided the light from the darkness.
God's approval here is attached to something specific. It is not admiration of newly minted objects but satisfaction in the work assigned to them.
God gave sun and moon to rule over the day and over the night. They were His creatures and gifts for man's use, dividing between the light and the darkness. "And God saw that it was good" — not as if they had just been created, but in the assigned work He gave them to do.
The word "good" is repeated across the chapter, and one writer draws a large conclusion from that.
All that God made was good. This is said five times (in verses 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25) about matter, whether living or not. These are important statements, because the ordered scene of creation was so soon invaded by evil. It proves that the evil was an invasion from outside and not produced from within. All as it left God's hand was perfect and undefiled.
The word "rule" is not decorative. From the start, the earth takes its light and its order from above. That pattern says something about how God governs.
Then again, they were to rule, one over the day and one over the night. From the outset God placed the earth under the rule and control of heaven, even in the working of lifeless matter. So these heavenly bodies become a sign that "Heaven rules" (Dan. 4:26), and a faint prophecy of "the kingdom of heaven," which we read of in the Gospel of Matthew. Sadly, fallen man soon twisted all this. He began to worship these lights as though they were creator and not creature, and so changed God's truth into a lie. Romans 1:25 refers to this, we believe.
Now, as the sun is a beautiful and fitting symbol of Christ, so the moon strikingly reminds us of the church. The source of her light is hidden from view. The world does not see Him, but she sees Him; and she is responsible to reflect His beams on a darkened world. The world has no other way of learning anything of Christ except through the church. "You yourselves are our letter ... known and read by all," says the inspired apostle. And again, "You show that you are a letter from Christ." (2 Cor. 3:2-3.)
The same writer's grammar is worth noticing: the lesser light is given a rule of its own, not merely a glow. One writer draws that parallel out, and adds that the present arrangement is temporary.
His is a full, unchanging, underived light; hers a reflected, unsteady one. Yet it is said, "The moon to govern the night," just as it is, "The sun to rule the day." "You are the light of the world," just as "I am the light of the world." But Christ is absent, and it is now night — although, thank God, "the night is far spent, the day is at hand."
If the church is the moon, the picture itself corrects anyone who makes her the source of the light instead of the channel.
But here we are on ground that has its dangers. The Roman Catholic system exalted the church at the expense of her Head, and this tendency is clearly seen in quarters where it was least expected. The moon is a fitting illustration of the church, and it guards against this tendency. It is a dark body with no light of its own. Its only usefulness lies in reflecting the light of the sun. Strictly speaking there is no such thing as moonlight — it is the reflected light of the sun. So the only use the church can be in this world is shedding the light of Christ during the night of His absence.
- Made — sun and moon were created in verse 1. On the fourth day God made them "two great lights," set in relation to the earth to govern and divide.
- Given — they rule as creatures and gifts for man's use, never as powers in their own right.
- Ruled — the earth takes its light and order from above, a sign that "Heaven rules." Man's sin was to worship the lights instead of their Maker.
- Reflected — the sun pictures Christ, the moon the church. Her light is all borrowed, and her one use is to shine it into the night of His absence.
- Good — God's approval rests on the work He assigned, not on the objects. Creation is called good five times, so the evil that later spoiled it came from outside.
And there was evening, and there was morning -- a fourth day.
Genesis 1:19 closes the fourth day, the day God set the sun and moon in the sky to mark signs, seasons, days and years. Its last words raise three questions: did God make the lights then or only give them a job, why call the work "good", and why does evening come first?
So did the sun and moon begin on day four? One writer says no.
It is certainly not the creation of the sun and the rest. The inspired historian does not say that, but only that God now appointed the heavenly lights, after the plants and before the animals, for the earth of Adam's day. Light had shone in another way since the first day of that great week. Now He set the light-bearers of the heavens to do their assigned work, but it is for the earth, and indeed for man.
A sign needs a reader. The same writer names times when Israel saw these lights act as signs.
Suppose this happened an age before Adam — thousands, millions of years. What sense would there be in light-bearers "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years"? ... We see what a sign it was to Israel when Joshua said in their hearing, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." In far different days the Lord spoke to sick Hezekiah, and gave him a sign in the shadow that went back ten steps on the dial of Ahaz. And what a sign again at the cross of the Messiah, where everything was lost as far as man is concerned! There darkness covered the whole land for three hours.
God's "good" here is not praise for something new. He approves the work He gave the lights — and day four then runs like any day since.
The stars only come in as an aside. God made them too, even if blind man turned them into gods. But God gave sun and moon to rule over the day and over the night. They were His creatures and gifts for man's use, dividing between the light and the darkness. "And God saw that it was good" — not as though they had just been created, but good in the work He gave them to do. "And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day." No one can honestly deny it: that day's work must give us the ordinary alternation of night and day. The same daily turning followed for the fifth and sixth days, as for every day since, including the seventh. If so, consistency surely requires the same for the three days before.
Why does the verse name evening before morning? One writer traces the order back to day one.
As to the day, evening and morning: God called the light created out of darkness "day". But there was no morning then. So evening comes first — the disappearance of light. ... Genesis does not count the night, except by implication. It was the original state — absence of light — not a creation. God's works are in the light. If darkness came on, light appeared again — the dawn — there was morning. Evening is named first because it closed the day that the incoming light had just created, or ordered.
The two lights are not equal, and one writer reads that difference as a picture.
The great light of the day is the source of heat and light to the earth. Its light is its own. It never changes, and it is as constant as the day it brings. It clearly shows us the Heavenly One, back in the glory He came from. The lesser light rules the night, and its light is borrowed from His. At its best it is cold and dull by comparison. It also changes — full-faced or shrunken, depending on whether it fully faces Him or is turned away from Him. How easily we read that too.
Another writer weighs a second difference: the two lights never shine at once.
Of what are they typical? The answer is Christ and the church. The sun and the moon do not shine at one and the same time. The sun shines by day. The moon by night. That is the present relation between Christ and His church. Our Lord, in His earthly life, was the light of men, but wicked men led by religious rulers crucified Him. While He is absent, the church is to shine for Him in this world.
- Set — Day four gives the sun and moon their task; it does not make them. Light had shone since day one.
- Aimed — Day four aims at earth and man. Signs, seasons, days and years matter only to people who live under that sky.
- Approved — "Good" praises the work God gave the lights, not their newness. They rule as His gifts, never as gods.
- Ordered — Evening comes first because darkness closed the day that light began. Then dawn answers it. The night is not a creation.
- Reflected — The sun's light is its own. The moon's light is borrowed and changing, bright only while it faces the source. So Christ shines, and His people shine for Him in the night of His absence.
And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens.
On the fifth day the world stops being empty scenery. Life swarms in the seas, and wings fill the sky. This one verse raises two questions. What new order of life begins here? And did God really say the water produced the birds?
Up to now God had made light, sky, sea, land and plants. Day five brings in something new, and one writer finds the sign of it in a single word. He quotes the verse in older English wording.
In verse 21 we get the word "created" for the second time. It appeared in verse 1, the original creation of the heaven and the earth. The intervening verses have told us what God made out of His original creation. Why does the word occur again here? We believe it is because here God commanded the waters to bring forth "the moving creature that has life." Plants show nutrition, growth and reproduction. Here we see a completely different order of life: creatures that can feel and move by their own will. Indeed the word translated "creature" in verses 20 and 21 really means "soul." So on this fifth day God brought in a higher form of life, a life that involves soul. That is why this was creation in the full sense.
Older English Bibles read as though the sea gave birth to birds. One writer traces the objection to the translation, not the text.
Chapter 2 shows that birds were made out of the earth; but Genesis 1:20, critics say, means that birds were made out of the waters. Genesis 1 says nothing of the sort. It agrees perfectly with Genesis 2:19. The objection shows the danger of reasoning from a mistake that has crept into a translation, instead of from Scripture itself. This verse does not teach that the waters were to bring forth birds, though our English version makes it look that way. It reads, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature, and let birds fly about the earth in the open expanse of heaven." The point is that the birds fly in that sphere. The verse never says the waters gave birth to them.
Answering the same objection elsewhere, he shows the two clauses stand apart:
Nothing really is said or intended about the waters bringing forth birds: the latter are spoken of in a distinct clause... The true rendering is, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly, etc. and let birds fly, etc." There is no discrepancy in this case to be reconciled.
The ESV above follows this reading: the waters swarm, and the birds fly.
The order of the six days is not random.
The waters now teem with life, and birds fly in the air... It is beautiful to see God's goodness at work in all this! He first creates a setting where His creatures can live. Plant life, for instance, needs dry land to grow on. So God first brings the dry land up out of the waters. Animals need plant food, so He supplies plenty of it before He brings these creatures into being.
The first blessing in the Bible does not fall on man.
The first blessing of creation was when God made the creatures that filled the waters and the air of Adam's world. They were the first to enjoy animal life in that world. God takes pleasure in blessing His creatures. Their life is lowly, yet it can still enjoy the fruits of His goodness. He blesses them above all with a view to their reproducing and multiplying within their own sphere.
Fish and birds are called "living creatures," where older Bibles read "living souls." Some argue from this that man is no different from an animal. The reply turns on how each one received life.
Animals have living souls as part of their creation. About them God said, "Let the waters bring forth," or, "Let the earth bring forth." But God formed man of the dust of the ground, and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living creature." So man was unlike every other creature in two ways. God created him in His own image, and he "became a living soul" because God breathed into him.
One writer hears the voice of this verse again in the Gospels. A man standing before Jesus recognized it.
He felt that he was in the presence of the One whose voice said ages before, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures" (Gen. 1:20). He realized that God had come down from heaven to earth. His sinful condition rose up before him — his unfitness to stay in the divine presence. So he fell at Jesus' knees saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
- Word — God speaks, and the seas and skies fill with life. The same voice later brought a man to his knees before Jesus.
- Soul — "Creature" here means "soul": life that feels and moves. It stands above plants, so the word "created" returns.
- Order — God prepares the home before He brings in the tenants. His goodness shows in the sequence, not just the result.
- Blessing — God's first recorded blessing falls on fish and birds, so they may multiply and fill their sphere.
- Distinction — Animals received life by a command to the waters. Man became a living soul when God breathed into him.