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GENESIS.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was waste and empty; and darkness was

Chap. 1: 1-2: 3. First part of the first division: General account of the Creation; Institution of the Sabbath.

The first verse declares that divine act of creative power, which brought this material universe into being.

It is a brief declaration of these great truths: 1. That the material universe, and all it contains, had an origin,-were not self-existing from eternity. 2. That they were created by the act of an intelligent and almighty Being,-were not the result of chance, or of the action of elementary principles of matter. 3. That the Being who created them is GOD.

How worthy of its place, at the beginning of a revelation from God! Imagine the book placed in our hands for the first time. On opening it, we read, in the first sentence, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." What could divine wisdom have suggested that would have been more appropriate? It solves the first and greatest question, on which the thoughtful inquirer seeks information, Whence is this world, of which I am a part? It declares also God's relation to this world and its occupants, as their only rightful proprietor and sovereign. For what he has made from nothing is absolutely his, and at his disposal. This sentence combines all the elements of sublimity; for nothing can exceed the grandeur of the thought, or the simplicity, conciseness, and majesty of the expression.

V. 1. In the beginning: with reference to the universe, of which the writer is speaking. It was the beginning, the origin, of the material universe.

Created. It has been maintained of late, and by devout Christian scholars, that the Hebrew verb does not mean to create, but to shape, to form; and consequently we have no assertion, here or elsewhere in the Scriptures, of the absolute creation of the world out of nothing, by an act of divine power. The reasons for this opinion are: 1. That the etymological groundmeaning of the verb, as shown by that form of it which usually exhibits the primary sense, is to cut, to hew, to shape by hewing. 2. That it is sometimes used, in the Scriptures, where it can not be intended to express a creation out of nothing.

But, on the contrary, it should be observed: 1. That all verbs have, for their etymological ground-meaning, a physical act perceptible to the senses, from which proceed their secondary, which are the most usual, significations. 2. That this verb, out of the form which expresses the primary physical meaning, has always God for its subject, and is used only when something new, not before existing, is produced, brought into existence, by the power of God. See, for example, Ex. 34: 10, properly, "Such as have not been created" (brought into existence) "in all the earth;" Num. 16: 30, properly, "if Jehovah create a new thing;" Jer. 31: 22; Isaiah 4: 5; 41: 20, "the Holy One of Israel has created it" (brought it into existence); 45:8; 48:7; 57: 19; 65: 17, 18. 3. That in this account of the creation, it is accurately distinguished from the Hebrew verb meaning to make either from nothing or from already existing material, and from the verb meaning to form out of such material, and hence is never accompanied by a word denoting the material of which a thing is made. 4. That in ch. 2 : 3 it is expressly said, "which God created in making it,"—that is, made by creation.

V. 2. The form of the earth, and its internal structure, show that it was originally in the state here described. How long it continued in that state is not indicated.

It was waste and empty; namely, without order or productiveness, a barren waste, empty of

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over the face of the abyss; and the Spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters.

And God said: Let there be light; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided between the light and the darkness. And God called the

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light Day; and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning, one day.

And God said: Let there be an expanse in the midst of

7 the waters; and let it divide waters from waters.

And God

all the beautiful varieties of organized life with which it was afterward filled. Compare the opposite description, in Psalm 104: 24, "The earth is full of thy riches."

Over the dark abyss the Spirit of God was brooding; imparting to lifeless matter powers which give it an active agency in working out the divine purposes. The Hebrew word brooding is highly significant; being used of fowls, brooding over their eggs and imparting the vivifying warmth. So the divine power is represented as acting upon the mass of inert matter, imparting the properties necessary to its proper organization, so as to fit it for sustaining vegetable life, and to be the abode of animated and intelligent beings.

V. 3. One of the most essential agencies of nature is light. Hence the production of it at this stage of creation, as being necessary for those processes of development which must precede the formation of vegetables and animals.

The nature of light, and its physical cause, are still among the unsettled problems of natural philosophy, and no satisfactory solution of them can be given. Hence, objections to the sacred narrative, founded on any of the theories of light and its production, are without just ground. V. 5. And there was evening; namely, the close of a period of light by the coming on of darkness; and there was morning, the close of a period of darkness by the return of light; the two periods making a day.

This is the true idea of evening and morning. By evening is meant, in Hebrew as well as in English, the coming on of darkness after a period of light; in other words, the close of day by the coming on of night. There could be no evening, without a previous period of light.

Day began, therefore, with light and not with darkness; and one day continued, till the returning light marked the commencement of another.

The later custom of the Hebrews (Lev. 23: 32), of reckoning the day from evening to evening, was made necessary by the use of the lunar calendar, in the observance of their feasts and other commemorative seasons, which depended on the return of the new moon. Where the natural day is meant, as in Lev. 7: 15, it closes with the morning of the following day.

VV. 6, 7. These verses describe the effect of the formation of the earth's atmosphere, under the divine agency and direction, from its elements in the yet unorganized earth. The result was, as described in v. 7, the separation of the dense sea of vapors above, from the waste of waters below, by the intervening expanse.

The expanse (properly, what is outspread) is so called from its apparent limit in the blue vault above, where the heavenly bodies appear, and along which the fowls fly (v. 20). This is not inconsistent with the explanation here given of the separation of the waters. The sacred writer describes this process, as he does others, in terms suggested by the senses, as being most readily understood.

Observe that the sacred writer says, God made the expanse,-not, necessarily, created it; the atmosphere being composed of elements already existing. Compare No. 3, in the third paragraph on v. 1.

But what wisdom and power were necessary, to combine those elements in exact proportions fitted for the support of vegetable and animal life, and with a density suited to the transmission of light to the organ of vision; and so to adjust the elements of earth and air to each other, that, through thousands of ages, these delicate proportions should never be essentially disturbed!

And it was so; that is, it became fixed and established, just as God willed and ordered it.

made the expanse; and he divided the waters which are under the expanse from the waters which are above the ex8 panse; and it was so. And God called the expanse Heavens. And there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

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And God said: Let the waters under the heavens gather themselves to one place, and let the dry land appear; and 10 it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas; and God saw that it was good.

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And God said: Let the earth put forth shoots, herb setting seed, fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, in which is 12 its seed, above the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth shoots, herb setting seed after its kind, and tree producing fruit, in which is its seed, after its kind; and 13 God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

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And God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, for dividing between the day and the night; and

V. 14. Lights: or, luminaries

VV. 9, 10. These verses describe the effects of the upheaving from the abyss of the portions of the earth which had now become solidified. These, as is proved by their structure, and by the substances composing them, had been formed under the waters; and they were now, by the action of internal forces, raised above the surface. This was effected by the will of that almighty Power, who controls the agencies of nature, and is himself their efficient cause. As these solid portions are forced upward, the waters subside and "the dry land appears."

To one place means, apart, by themselves. That more than one receptacle is meant, is evident from the plural seas, in v. 10. By "the gathering together of the waters," is meant every such gathering.

VV. 11-13. The earth is now in a proper condition for producing and sustaining vegetable life. A suitable soil is formed, by the processes which have been going on among the primary elements of the earth, and by the exposure of its surface, now left dry, to the action of air, light, and warmth. But it could only be by a divine power that these elements originally produced the delicate and complicated organism of plants, with the wonderful endowment of vegetable life. For the vegetable life is not, any more than the animal life, the effect merely of a certain mechanical structure, with a certain combination of material elements. Both are divinely imparted principles, differing in their nature, but both communicating to inert matter peculiar powers of activity, growth, and strength.

And God said: Let the earth put forth shoots. From the earth sprang up, by the agency of divine power, these organized forms, endowed with vegetable life. The language expresses, in words, the will of the Creator, as declared by the exertion of his own power.

In which (fruit) is its (the tree's) seed; that is, fruit-tree whose seed is in its fruit. Above the earth; rising high above it, in distinction from the herb, just spoken of.

The different classes of vegetation here follow the order in which they are proved by science to have succeeded each other.

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VV. 14-19. Institution of the two great lights, and their offices. These are: 1. To divide

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let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, for giving light on the earth; and it was so.

16 And God made the two great lights; the greater light

for dominion over the day, and the lesser light for dominion 17 over the night; and the stars. And God set them in the 18 expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth; and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 And God said: Let the waters swarm with swarms of living beings; and let fowl fly above the earth, along the 21 expanse of the heavens. And God created the great seamonsters, and every living being that moves, with which the waters swarm, after their kind, and every winged fowl 22 after its kind; and God saw that it was good. And God

V. 16. Or, great luminaries

Ib. Or, the greater luminary-the lesser luminary

between the day and the night, regulating the alternation of light and darkness. 2. To be for signs, and, as such, for seasons, by marking their return and duration, and for days and years. The last two are specially named, and in conjunction, as being the units of measure chiefly employed in the reckoning of time; while months, indicated by the phases of the moon, and the divisions of the year caused by the sun's progress between the equinoctial and solstitial points, are comprehended under the word seasons. 3. To give light on the earth.

Thus these heavenly bodies are the great regulators of life, on whose influences all its interests are made to depend, and whose motions chronicle the ages as they pass. Hence the dominion ascribed to them in Job 39: 33,

Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens,

or dost thou establish their dominion over earth?

It is said in v. 16: "God made" (not created; see No. 3, in the third paragraph on v. 1) "the two great lights." These bodies became lights to the earth, at the time when they were made its luminaries, or sources of light; and they were then "set" (v. 17) as lights for the earth, "in the expanse of the heavens."

The sun of our system is not a body of simple and uniform substance; nor is it known what changes were required in its physical constitution, after the creation of its substance, in order to make it the great luminary of our world. Hence the charge 'sometimes made against the sacred narrative, that it conflicts with the known truths of astronomy in regard to the structure of our planetary system, is shown by the teachings of that science to be without just ground. Moreover, a certain condition of the earth's atmosphere was required. It was already fitted for the support of vegetable life, and for such transmission of the sun's influences as was necessary to that end. But the heavenly bodies could not be made luminaries of the earth, without a transparent medium, through which their light could be conveyed to it.

VV. 20-23. The sun has now become the great source of light and warmth to the earth, and the time has arrived for a higher stage of organic life, that of the animal creation. It begins with the lowest in the scale, the inhabitants of the waters; then follow the occupants of the air. The account here given (vv. 20-28) indicates the ascending scale, from the lowest forms of animal life up to the highest, which science has traced in its vestiges in the earth itself. V. 22. Blessed them. The blessing bestowed was the power of reproduction and of indefinite

blessed them, saying: Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the 23 waters in the seas; and let fowl multiply on the earth. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day. 24 And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living being after its kind, cattle, and reptile, and beast of the earth, 25 after its kind; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and every reptile of the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

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And God said: We will make man, in our image, after

multiplication, as expressed in the words which follow and define the meaning, namely, "Be fruitful, and multiply." It was expressed, of course not in words, but in the nature with which God endowed his creatures, and in the power of reproduction which he bestowed.

That the gift of conscious life, and the power of indefinite propagation of it, was truly a blessing, and was worthy of the divine Giver, will not be questioned by one who finds pleasure in witnessing its innocent enjoyments; nor will he doubt, that such provision for happiness, on a scale of inconceivable extent, is a worthy expression of the divine goodness.*

VV. 24-28. Another stage in the production of organic life, the creation of land animals. The land is now, as well as the water and air, fitted to be the abode of animal life. Its surface is clothed with vegetation, and the air has become purified, and thus adapted to the support of animal life in its higher and more perfect forms.

VV. 24, 25. First, the irrational animals are brought into existence; and this accords with what science shows to have been the order of creation.

Let the earth bring forth. The bodies of animals are of the earth, being composed of the same material elements. Divested of its figurative form (so well suited to the tone of conception and representation in this chapter) the language means: Let there be living beings, of the substance of the earth. The boldly figurative form of the expression will not mislead the attentive reader, since it is immediately added (v. 25), “And God made the beast of the earth." Beast of the earth: wild animals that roam the earth without restraint, in distinction from cattle, the domestic animals whose home is with man.

VV. 26-28. Last and highest stage in the production of organic life, the creation of man. The world in its physical structure, and the earth itself, both in its physical constitution and in the capacities of its living occupants, have been fitted to subserve some other purpose than thus far appears in their history.

If we look to the earth, vast treasures of mineral wealth have been accumulated within its bosom, which there is none to use; and in its soil lie hidden boundless powers of productiveness, which there is none to call forth.

If we look to the heavens, there is none to investigate the laws that regulate their "dominion over the earth" and profit by their teachings, or even to be conscious of their influence, beyond a passing sensation terminating in itself. To every creature of the earth, outside of its own momentary sensations, creation is a blank; and all this expenditure of wisdom and power is without intelligible aim or purpose.

Looking to the moral aspects of the case, we see that thus far all the arrangements have been physical in their nature, ministering only to physical wants, and to enjoyments into which no moral element enters. The divine Architect of all is unrecognized in the wonders he has wrought, and among the living conscious beings his own hands have made.

The final act, the creation of one bearing the image and likeness of his Maker, capable of comprehending his works in all their extent and making them serviceable to himself, and of recognizing God in all, is proof of an intelligent and consistent plan, tending to and terminating in this, its crowning work.

V. 26.

We will make; the language of purpose and resolve. The plural form does not nec

*A beautiful illustration of this thought may be found in Paley's Natural Theology, ch. xxvi., on the goodness of the Deity, in the paragraph beginning," Nor is the design abortive."

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