Bible Commentaries
Genesis 1

Verses 1-5

The Creation of Chaos and Light

v. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. In the beginning, Cf John 1:1, that is, when time first began, when time was first measured; for as long as God alone existed, there was no time. God created, He brought forth out of nothing, He brought into being something that had not been in existence before, namely, the heaven, or heavens, and the earth, the material out of which they were constructed.

v. 2. And the earth was without form and void. The material substance of which the earth consists was in a state of chaos, the various elements being intermingled in utter disorder. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. There was, as yet, no elemental light; the great sea of the chaotic materials was covered with an impenetrable veil of the blackest darkness. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The third person of the Holy Trinity is represented as taking part in the work of creation by way of brooding over the waters, by making use of His divine power in causing the elements to combine in the form which they now have,

v. 3. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. God spoke; the almighty Word of God is here introduced, the second person of the Godhead, John 1:3. The creation of the world is a work of the Triune God. By the word of His power He created light, elemental light, brought it into being in the midst of the darkness, commanded it to shine out of darkness, 2 Corinthians 4:6.

v. 4. And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. The light was good, it was a perfect creature of God's almighty power; and so God separated between the light and the darkness, so that they were no longer in a chaotic state.

v. 5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. Time had begun for the earth, and therefore the Lord made this rule for the division of light and darkness, as they follow each other in regular order, and did so even before the creation of the light-bodies. He Himself defined the unit of time which He thus ordered. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And there was evening, when the darkness had ruled alone, and there was morning, when God's almighty power created light and separated it from the darkness. Ever since the first day of the world the regular recurrence of darkness and light marks the period of one day, as we now divide it into twenty-four hours. This is the fundamental meaning of the Hebrew word here used, which must be assumed even Psalms 90:4 (Cf 2 Peter 3:8), where the Lord accommodates Himself to human speech and limitations, for the sake of comparison.

Verses 6-8

The Creation of the Firmament

v. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. God's almighty word continued to create on the second day. He caused a firm extension, or expansion, to be fixed in the midst of the waters, in the chaos where liquid and vapor were intermingled with the more solid substances. The purpose of this firmament was to keep separate the waters from the waters, as the text next explains.

v. 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. Although there is no concrete, visible vault of the sky, yet there is an invisible dividing-wall above the earth, which under ordinary conditions holds back the masses of water in gaseous form which are high above the visible clouds. Cf Genesis 7:11.

v. 8. and God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. God Himself applied the name heaven, or heavens, to the invisible dividing-wall which separates the waters below from the waters above. Thus the work of the second day was accomplished.

Verses 9-13

The Creation of the Dry Land, Herbs, and Trees

v. 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. God here finished His creative work on inanimate matter, when His almighty command bade the waters from below the heavens, below the firmament which He had constructed, be gathered together into a single place, by themselves. In chaos the mixture of solids and liquids had been so complete as to preclude the designation "dry land. " But now both the solids and the liquids were to be separated, so that dry land, as we know it, was visible.

v. 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. There had been no chemical compound, but a mere mixture of solid and liquid particles in the mass composing chaos. The division took place at God's almighty command, and the dry land was henceforth known as earth, while the places on the earth's surface where the waters had come together into large masses were called seas or oceans. And again God saw that the product of His almighty power was good, that it exactly served the purpose for which it was intended.

v. 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. The dry land having emerged from the waters, it was now possible, by God's command, for the earth to be clothed with vegetation, with green, tender grass, with small plants bearing seeds, and with trees of all kinds that bear fruit. As the Lord gave to the earth the power to bring forth the plants, so He placed into the plants the power to propagate their kind by bearing seed and fruit.

v. 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. The mature plants were thus brought into being by the word of God's power, fully able to reproduce their kind and species by means of seed and fruit. It was not a gradual generation, as under the present laws of nature, but the fully developed specimens were brought forth by the earth as God's creative work, altogether fit to take their place in the universe. This ended the work of the third day.

v. 13. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Verses 14-19

The Creation of Sun, Moon, and Stars

v. 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. The Creator brought into being light bodies of the sky, assigning to them a threefold function: to show the distinction between day and night, to serve as indicators or means for men, enabling them to distinguish between the two divisions of the full day; to serve for signs, not only as in the case of ordinary eclipses, but also as omens extraordinary; and to fix the calendar of the world in general. And not only that:

v. 15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. That is the third function of the heavenly light-bodies, to send forth the light, either their own or that reflected by them, to be light-bearers for the earth. No sooner had God spoken than it was done; for it was not an ordinary work done by Him, but an act of creation.

v. 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. Although the names are not expressly mentioned, it is obvious that the greater light is the sun, which, by its light and power, governs the day, has the most profound influence upon organic and inorganic life, and the smaller light the moon, which governs the night and the life of the night in much the same way as the sun does by day. Likewise, God on this day filled the immense reaches of the universe with the countless number of stars.

v. 17. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

v. 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. God's almighty, creative act is again emphasized; for He gave, He put the light-bodies in their proper place, the functions of which are given in the order in which they usually impress men: they give forth light upon the earth; their influence controls day and night, respectively; their rising and setting governs the division of light and darkness. And again, the work of the perfect God was perfect.

v. 19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Verses 20-23

The Creation of Marine Animals and Birds

v. 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. At God's almighty word the waters were to swarm a swarm of living beings, of marine animals, and also of winged animals, characterized by the fact that they fly over the earth on the face of the firmament, that is, on the side which is turned toward the earth. These animals were created in great abundance and are conspicuous to this day by their unusually great number, as careful statistics have shown.

v. 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. Not only the fishes were made by God to inhabit the seas, but He also created long and huge whales, crocodiles, and other monsters of the oceans and rivers, and every form of marine animal, no matter of what form and nature, with which the waters swarm, and every kind of winged animal, chiefly birds, all of them perfect and exactly adapted to the element in which they found themselves.

v. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. As animate beings both the marine animals and those that inhabit the air received a special blessing of the Lord, not in a mere friendly and fatherly greeting, but in the conveyance of the power to reproduce themselves in kind. The fishes were to multiply at such a rate as to fill up all the oceans, and the birds were to become many on the earth.

v. 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Verses 24-25

The Creation of the Land Animals

v. 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. The seas and the air having been filled with living beings, the earth now received the command to bring forth, to permit to go forth, living beasts: animals such as were easily domesticated, reptiles and creeping beasts, and the game of prairie and forest. Without delay the order was carried into execution, the earth opening or unfolding, as it were, and presenting the animals fully grown.

v. 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. The making of these animals is represented as having received the special attention of the Lord in forming the game animals of the earth and the domestic animals, mammals, most of them, and the reptiles of the ground each one after its kind, and each one perfect in its own environment.

Verses 26-31

The Creation and Blessing of Man

v. 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. Man is the crown of creation; the Triune God held a special council session with Himself, determining to make man in His own image, with a blessed knowledge of the heavenly Father and possessed of a perfect righteousness and holiness. Man was also to have power and government over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the animals in general, in brief, over the whole earth and over every reptile and similar animal that might be creeping on the earth. Thus the relation of man to the animals was clearly stated.

v. 27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created He them. God made an impression of His own essence upon the soul of man, making his intellect keen for the knowledge of Himself, and his will eager to perform only that which was good and righteous. As man and woman, as male and female, God created the two first human beings, the two sexes being a creation of God from the beginning.

v. 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. Thus was the blessing of the Lord given to man and the power to reproduce his kind according to God's laws transmitted to him. But the fact that God gives to him the power and government over all the animate and inanimate things of the earth indicates that the propagation of the human race is not the process of mere animal reproduction, for man, as the crown of creation, is living on a higher plane.

v. 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. Having created man, the human race, and provided for their propagation, God also provides the necessary food to sustain their life, the vegetables and seed-bearing plants and the fruit-bearing trees.

v. 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. That was the food which the Lord had provided and intended for animals of every description, whether mammals or birds or reptiles or any other kind, namely, the tender green grass and vegetation. It follows, then, that neither did man use animal food before the Fall, nor were there any beasts of prey that stalked their prey; they all lived together in perfect harmony and partook of the food which the Lord provided in richest measure.

v. 31. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. This is God's own opinion and verdict of the entire work of creation as it was before Him at the end of the sixth day: "Good exceedingly. " There was not a single mistake, not even a flaw, in the perfection of God's work.