As we learn about the days of creation what are we looking at? Are we looking at a textbook explanation of some kind of incredible phenomenon? Are we looking at a comprehensive explanation of how light or grass or cows were created? Are we looking at evolution in hidden terms? None of the above really is the intent of the narrative of the days of creation found in Genesis 1. If Genesis 1 was meant to be a detailed explanation, first of all, we would never be able to grasp it. That kind of power and its expression is reserved for God alone so that all glory is given to Him. Second, to explain the absolute infinitesimal detail needed to create all that exists (let alone to sustain it) would exhaust many, many volumes. No, Genesis chapter 1 is given as an explanation of the creation of the universe, i.e. “the heavens and the earth”, in general and summary terms. What details there are are sufficient for us to fear God because of His omnipotence. But, we should never see this narrative as a kind of textbook explanation for every detail in creation. More than anything, it seems that Moses wrote, by the superintending work of the Spirit of God, to begin to explain to Israel who their God is. He is the Designer and Creator of the world. He owns it all and all of it is for His purpose. Israel needed to know their God. Israel needed to tremble at His word. Israel needed to be brought to some measure of humiliation for their sins before this wonderful and glorious Creator who is obviously above and outside of all that exists and thus controls it all (Psalm 19:1).
On the first day of creation, at the beginning of the day, God created the heavens and the earth (1:1). What is that? This statement is not a summary of the entire creation narrative following it. It is, in fact, the initial step in the creative order. It is in the beginning of day one that God created, out of no preexisting material, the heavens, which refers to the expanse of what we might call “dark matter”, which very well may be infinite, and stretched it out (Job 9:8; 37:18; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22) without the stars punctuating it as we know today. Within that darkness, God inserted, the earth. It is set at a very precise location within this darkness. This planet, was a solid core of soil and rock surrounded by a deep bath of water. When God created the earth, there was no visible soil. Soil did not become visible until day three.
On this first day also, God created light. Darkness was already created, as indicated by v.2. It was created at the same time that the heavens and the earth were. But light was yet to be created. Once light was installed into the universe, there was an immediate separation, by design. The light, without a sun as a source (which is not a problem since we are speaking of the One who created it. He can sustain it without a star without a problem), was of such a property to distinguish between it and darkness. What a God who can design such a thing! God gave a name to the light and the day and thus began the first installation of an extremely methodical and purposeful creative order.
On the second 24-hour cycle, i.e. day, presumably at the start of the day (as given by the formula “and there was evening and there was morning…”), God took the water which was miles deep, and separated it by inserting an ‘airy’ expanse (King James, “firmament”) into the middle of the waters and separated it into two halves. Since the simple reading of the text indicates that the waters above the expanse were from the same stock as those waters below the expanse, it would seem best to see this as essentially an ocean above the expanse to the same degree as the waters below it. Some would see the verb ‘separate’ as making a distinction of the kind of water above the expanse from the kind of water below the expanse. This kind of separation did in fact occur between light and dark, v.4. However, light did not come out of darkness and darkness did not come out of light. They were already different in substance. The waters here are of the same substance. It is difficult to understand how there could have been an Edenic ocean above the expanse, but not understanding something should not lead us to reject it. Exegetically, it appears safer to assume that the waters above the expanse were the same as the waters below the expanse and possibly equal in measure or quantity.
On the third day, God commanded that the earth, which had been below the waters, appear above the waters. This seems to indicate a kind of rising of the earth which, in turn, caused a basin to form around the risen earth and thus cause the water to run off into that basin. It would be best to understand this as a single continent rising above the waters in order to give a place for the land animals, mankind and the Garden of Eden. God commanded the waters to gather and the dry land appear and it was so. Upon that dry land (reminiscent of the dry land that appeared when God removed a slice out of the Red Sea in order to provide an escape for Israel from Pharaoh-Exodus 14:21 [cf.. 2 Kings 2:8]), God caused to sprout various trees, plants and vegetation. This is all for food for the man and animals later.
On the fourth day, God designed and created ‘luminaries’ in the heavens. These are, from the vantage point of the earth, light emitting bodies suspended in the darkness of space. The sun is the greater light and it rules the day. That is, it is the dominating body in the sky during the daytime. During the night, there is a smaller body, the moon, which dominates the nighttime sky. The sun would become the source of the created light which was created on day one, and the moon would reflect the light of the sun which, depending upon the season, is on the opposite side of the planet during the nighttime. Almost as an aside, Moses inserts “He made the stars also” in v.6. All of these luminaries provide light to the earth in order to give a chronology of time. They would be for signs, seasons, and for days and for years. These are categories of the passing of time for the purposes of mankind. It is still that way today. We are bound and held in our chronicling of time by the functions of the sun, moon and stars and their effect upon the earth.
On the fifth day, God created the swimming creatures and the flying creatures. These animals would occupy the waters below the expanse as well as the expanse itself. The swimming creatures include the fish, whales and larger “monsters” that we are not familiar with. Presumably, this would refer to the Leviathan spoken of in Psalm 104:26 and Job 41. That must have been a phenomenal creature!
On the sixth day, God crowns His creation. That is, the pinnacle of His creation and the purpose for it is formed and placed upon the earth. The final category of beings, however, that needed to be placed there are the land animals which are divided into three categories: the beasts of the earth, which refer to those less domesticated animals, the creeping things (literally, “those which drag the body”), and the domesticated “cattle”. All of these creatures are called ‘living beings’ and it is in them that is the “breath of the spirit of life” (Genesis 7:22). It would be wrong, however, to presume that the animals have a ‘soul’ as mankind does. Animals are not made in God’s image. Animals were made directly from the ground. So was Adam. However, God did not breath into the animals the breath of life as He did Adam, thus making it clear of the difference. Further, Adam did not find a compliment to himself in the animal realm when it came to a relationship. Animals are made living beings. Adam became a living being after God gave him a soul, which is made in His image.
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