The Third Day
Notes
Transcript
Handout
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
What does the World Of the Text reveal to us about the third day of creation?
Let’s continue to look at the poetic structure of this cosmogony.
In Genesis 1:9 we have the phrase, “And God said, Let...” repeated for the fourth time.
In verse 9, God commanded all the waters to be gathered to one place.
In verse 9, God commanded the dry land to appear.
In verse 9, we have the phrase, “And it was so,” repeated for the 2nd time.
In verse 10, we have the phrase “God called” repeated for the second time. God names the dry land Earth, and the gathered waters he named seas.
In verse 10, we have the phrase “And God saw that it was good” repeated for the second time.
In verse 11, we have the phrase “And God said, ‘Let...’” repeated for the fifth time.
In verse 11, God commanded the earth to sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind.
In verse 11, we observe the phrase “according to its kind” appearing for the first time.
In verse 11, the phrase “And it was so” is repeated for the third time in the passage.
In verse 12, we observe a parallel sentence to verse 11, where the earth responds to the command of God.
In verse 12, we see the idea of “according to its kind” being emphasised, as it is used for the second and third time.
In verse 12, the phrase “God saw that it was good” is repeated for the third time.
In verse 13, we have the concluding phrase for each day of creation. “And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day.”
Now that we have observed the structure of the passage, we will investigate key words and phrases in the World Of the Text by using the investigative questions tool.
Does anyone remember what these questions are?
The six investigative questions are: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Look with me at verse 9, asking, “What did God say?”
God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”
Where are the waters?
They are under the heavens, gathered together into one place.
What is behind the idea of being gathered together into one place?
It is the idea of separating the water from the land.
What is the result of the waters being gathered to one place?
Dry land appears.
What is the state of the land?
The land was dry. Who dried the land? God did so in his command.
Where was the land before it appeared?
The land was under the water and revealed at God’s command as dry land.
Verse 9 ends with the phrase, “And it was so.”
Why is this phrase important to the creation account?
It is important because it affirms that God accomplished what he intended. Here it is setting boundaries on the waters below by having them gathered to one place and dry land appearing.
Who is God then?
He is a God who sets boundaries and accomplishes what he has said.
We now apply the investigative questions to verse 10 of the text.
What does God do in verse 10?
God names and sees in verse 10.
What does he name?
He names the dry land “Earth”.
He names the waters “Seas.”
What does he see?
He sees it as good.
In verse 11, we again ask the question, “What did God say?”
“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.”
What was set forth at God’s command?
The function of the earth sprouting vegetation.
How did the function of the earth sprouting work?
It sprouted each according to its kind.
What are the kinds that the earth sprouted?
The first is plants yielding seed, “eseb mazria zera” in Hebrew, meaning “herbage, fodder, and vegetables”.
The second is fruit trees bearing fruit.
How do they reproduce?
Each according to its kind.
How does verse 11 end?
And it was so.
Here we are again reminded that God accomplished what he intended. Here he has set boundaries on the reproduction of vegetation, being each after its own kind.
Why is verse 12 in parallel to verse 11?
It is in parallel to reinforce what God had done in bringing forth vegetation according to its kinds.
What does God see at the end of verse 12?
He sees the earth bringing forth vegetation according to its kind as good.
Verse 13 brings this section to a close with the phrase, “And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.”
Why does God continue to emphasize evening and morning?
Because he wants us to remember that he created the earth not in or out of chaos but in an ordered fashion.
Having made observations of the World Of the Text, we now turn to the World Behind the Text. For our current context, this is ancient cosmogonies which are competing for the hearts and minds of the Israelites.
The Hermopolitan is the ancient Egyptian cosmology that claims the creation of land was the combining of eight gods to create the primeval hillock identified as the city of Hermopolis. (Longman, Tremper, III. How to Read Genesis. Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 2005. Walton, John H. Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011.)
Moses is stating that dry land was not a result of the gods coming together but of God’s divine word separating the waters below from the land, and having dry land appear.
The Instruction of Merikare claims that the gods made plants for man. Moses is correcting this by reminding the Israelites that Yahweh is the Creator, and not the Egyptian gods.
Having reviewed the ancient cosmologies. We will now move to the World in Front of the Text by looking at the modern cosmogony of the land and plants.
National Geographic states, “Our planet began as part of a cloud of dust and gas. It has evolved into our home, which has an abundance of rocky landscapes, an atmosphere that supports life, and oceans filled with mysteries.
Earth's early atmosphere was most likely composed of hydrogen and helium. As the planet changed and the crust began to form, volcanic eruptions occurred frequently. These volcanoes pumped water vapor, ammonia, and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere around Earth. Slowly, the oceans began to take shape, and eventually, early life evolved in those oceans.
Around 2.7 billion years ago, oxygen produced by photosynthesizing bacteria began to build up in the atmosphere. Over a few hundred million years, it changed the composition of the atmosphere. Our modern atmosphere is made up of 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen, among other gases. Life on Earth evolved to thrive within this atmosphere.” (https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/formation-earth/7th-grade/)
What does Moses have to say about this modern cosmogony?
God said, “Let the waters be gathered to one place, and let dry land appear.” Furthermore, he created plants producing after their kinds. In the evolutionary model, you have life coming from non-life. Then you have life evolving from one kind to another. This is against the created order. And as for the matter of time, God did it all in one day, on the third day of creation. It did not take millions of years.
Based on the wording of Genesis 1:9, many scholars and creation scientists believe that there was one continent that was then broken up in Genesis 7:11 when the fountains of the deep burst forth during the flood.
A sceptic might ask the question: How are plants surviving without the sun? The answer is twofold.
First, light is made present on the first day of creation.
Second, any plant can go 24 hours without light. In fact, they can go up to a week with no light.
What does the Spirit of God say to us in this passage?
First, God is orderly, and he creates boundaries in creation. Thus, he creates boundaries in our lives.
Ask the Spirit to reveal to you the answers to these questions.
What boundaries of God am I failing to respect?
What boundaries of God am I failing to set?
What boundaries of God am I keeping?
Second, God said, and it was so.
Are we taking God at his word?
Do we believe that God who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it?
He is doing a good work in us through the evil in us and around us. Spirit of God, please help us trust you in the process.
Go, Church, taking God at his word, and trusting in his boundaries.
