Columbiana County Jail Scripture Commentary 12/05/2025
Notes
Transcript
Genesis 1:6-10
Genesis 1:6-10
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Genesis chapter 1 seems to follow a rigid structure which is according to a specific pattern. God will create something through His words, take a look at it, declare it good, and Scripture will indicate the number of that creative day. If we take a closer look, the first half (day one, day two, and day three) prepare creation for some future component. The second half (day four, day five, and day six) show the creation of a new thing.
So far, God has completed the first day of creation. He made light, day and night. Here God has turned to the waters. If you recall, in verse 2, the earth was formless and void, covered by deep waters. Now God issues a command about those waters; separate them.
More specifically, God calls for something to be placed between the waters; a firmament. The Hebrew term is ra’qi’a. This implies something solid and supportive. A firmament is defined as the “expanse” or “dome” of the heavens created by God to divide the waters above from the waters below creation. The firmament represents God’s act of bringing order to chaos, establishing a structured cosmos. The word picture being offered here seem to be showing raising up the top part of the waters and inserting them into an open area, what we would usually think of as “air” above the sea or land.
But what about the top layer, the “waters” above the sky? They could be the clouds of the upper atmosphere or simply the atmosphere itself. Another theory is that there could have been a water “canopy” that once existed in the upper atmosphere that is no longer there. In any case, the larger point of the verse is that God’s power includes the ability to order even the oceans to do His bidding and breathable air to come into existence on thge earth. Once again, God alone is the source of creation.
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.
In the previous verse, God spoke the words of creation, and in this verse He fulfills those words exactly. Throughout the Bible, God speaking a thing and doing a thing are inseparable. In this case, that created thing is the atmosphere which is placed between the seas below and some layer of water above.
The ability of God to create is understated here using the Hebrew phrase (wa yehi ke’n), literally meaning “and it was so”. As much as God’s existence is treated as obvious and necessary,
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
His power and ability is also not given much detail. Rather, the focus is simply on the basic fact: God intended to create, stated His intention, and then what He intended to occur actually occured. This basic idea can not be separated from the biblical text.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
God is modifying the world in preparation for some new thing. In the previous verses, we get detailed text on the creation of an expanse between the waters of the sea and some upper layer of waters. Now God names that space. In Hebrew, the name God gives it is (samayim). This term was translated as Heaven. Based on the context, the word heaven is not what we would normally think of it in our day. This heaven is very likely “the heavens” or the atmosphere, the empty space above the sea.
The primary message here is , on day two, God formed an open space and named it. As with other aspects of creation. this counters any claim that the air, wind, or skies are themselves divine. Even the sky and atmosphere around us are an intentional part of God’s creation of 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.
This verse begins the third day of creation. On this day, God continues to refine His creation by adding more detail and order to the earth. Here in verse nine, God separates land from the ocean. More specifically, God commands the waters of the earth to be gathered into “one place”, and that dry land would appear. This does not necessarily mean that God created one single ocean, as we would understand it. However looking at the earth as seen today, all of the oceans are connected into one single , massive, continuous body of water. The word picture here is presented as a global body of water punctuated by one or more land masses.
Keep in mind, the emphasis is not on the minute by minute details, but a “big picture”. The point of this verse is to give God the credit with the power and authority over all we see.
For God, this act of creation is no more or less complex than this: He commands, and it is so. We stand in awe at the power being described here. With a sentence, God brings dry, habitable land to the earth. This land is ready to support the abundance of life that He is about to create.
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.
The account of day three of creation follows the pattern of the previous two days. God speaks something into existence, names it, and then observes it. He then calls it good. According to Hebrew thinking, the act of naming something implies responsibility for and ownership over that thing. He is the ruler of the thing. To name something is to have power over it. In this case, God calls the dry land “Earth” and the waters “Seas”.
Once again, God recognizes what He has made as good. That is a significant statement, coming from the ultimate standard of everything, which is God Himself. As we get to know God in the Bible, we see that He measures goodness in absolutes. To be good means that there is no “bad” in a thing. All that God has made during His creation week was utterlly and truly good.
