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.