Commentary on Genesis 1

This commentary will be added-to progressively:

GENESIS 1

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

In the beginning - not a beginning. Only one beginning is mentioned. Calls into question the gap theory.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Light in general. Its source and composition not described.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The light evidently came from a single direction, and the earth had begun spinning on its axis.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

The firmament might refer to space in general, rather than to earth's atmosphere specifically

(Because on the fourth day, God set the two lights and the stars in the firmament of the heaven. The sun, moon and stars are not actually in the earth's atmosphere, but they are in space.

If the firmament referred to is earth's atmosphere, then it would have to mean that God set the lights in the firmament of the heaven only in the sense that from the earth they appeared visible in the atmosphere.

The question of whether Genesis 1 describes the events of creation in literal, scientific terms, or merely in terms of how those events appeared from the view-point of earth, will be addressed throughout this commentary.)

If the firmament means space in general, could it mean that a body of water was separated to a position at the extremity of the universe?

Or, if the firmament refers to earth's atmosphere specifically, could the "waters above the firmament" refer to water vapour in earth's atmosphere? or to clouds? or to some water canopy in orbit around the earth?

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

It may or may not have been a single land mass.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

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

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

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

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

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

Could it be that while God made light on the first day, on the fourth day He organized that light into various forms such as the sun, moon and stars? Similarly to how God organized for the dry land and oceans to be separated on the third day, the earth and water which He had already made on the first day?

Or were the sun, moon and stars made completely independantly of the light made on Day 1?

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.

So, the term the "firmament of heaven" includes the earth's atmosphere, in which the bird's fly, but the term is perhaps not limited to mean the earth's atmosphere only, but also all of space in general.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

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

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.

25And 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.

26And 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.

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28And 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.

29And 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.

30And 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.

31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.