In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Ver. 1. _In the beginning._] A BEGINNING there was then, whatever Aristotle _a_ fancied of the world's eternity. So true is that of a learned Italians - Philosophy seeks after truth; divinity only finds it; religion improves it. _b_ _Veritatem... [ Continue Reading ]
_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._ Ver. 2. _And the earth was without form and void,_] that is, as yet it had neither essential nor accidental perfection. The Lord afterward did form it i... [ Continue Reading ]
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Ver. 3. _And God saith, Let there, &c._] He commanded the "light to shine out of darkness." 2Co 4:6 "He spake the word, and it was done." Psalms 33:9 _; _ Psa 148:5 _a_ Creation is no motion, but a simple and bare emanation; which is, when with... [ Continue Reading ]
And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness. Ver. 4. _And God saw the light that it was good._] - _Moveover he foresaw_, so one renders it. _a_ He saw this long before, but he would have us to see it; he commends the goodness of this work of his to us. Goo... [ Continue Reading ]
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Ver. 5. _And God called the light day, &c._] He taught men to call them so; day ירם, from the noise and hurry; night לילה, from the yelling of wild beasts. Darkness he created not, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Ver. 6. _Let there be a firmament._] Yet not so firm, but it shall be dissolved. 2Pe 3:11 That it is not presently so; that those windows of heaven are not opened, as once in the deluge,... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 7. _Waters which were above the firmament._] That is the clouds, and watery meteors above the lower region of the air, where God's "pavilion roun... [ Continue Reading ]
_And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day._ Ver. 8. _And the evening, &c._] Here is no mention of God's approbation of this second day's work. Not for that hell was then created, or the reprobate angels then ejected, as the Jews give as the reason of... [ Continue Reading ]
_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._ Ver. 9,10. _Let the waters under the heaven be gathered, &c._] The water, they say, is ten times greater than the earth, as is the air ten times greater than the water,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good._ Ver. 10. _He called earth._] _This is, the earth which we tread (namely, still the land which we manage, the land we desire.)_ _Hoc est, terrain quam terimus (est enim, et... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 11,12. _Let the earth bring forth, &c._] "Grass for the cattle, and herb for the use of man" Psa 104:14 and both... [ Continue Reading ]
_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._ Ver. 12. _And the earth brought forth, &c._] Augustine _a_ thinks that thorns and thistles, brambles and briers were... [ Continue Reading ]
_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: _ Gen 1:15 _And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so._ Ver. 14,15. _L... [ Continue Reading ]
_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. _ Gen 1:17 _And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,_ Ver. 16,17. _He made also the stars._] To be receptacles of that first ligh... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 21. _And God created great whales._] In creating whereof, _creavit Deus vastitates et stupores... [ Continue Reading ]
_And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth._ Ver. 22. _Be fruitful and multiply._] By bidding them do so, he made them do so, for his words are operative. Trismegist saith the self-same things in effect that Moses he... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 24, 25. _Let the earth, &c._] Lo here the earth, in itself a dead element, brings forth, at God's command, living creatures, tame, wild,... [ Continue Reading ]
And 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. Ver. 25. _And all creeping things of the earth._] God assigns the parts of the people as of the gnat, saith an ancient. _Disp... [ Continue Reading ]
And 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. Ver. 26. _And God said, Let us make man._] Man... [ Continue Reading ]
So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Ver. 27. _So God created man in his own image._] There is a double image of God in the soul. One in the substance of it, whereof I have spoken in the former verse. The other in the qualities... [ Continue Reading ]
And 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. Ver. 28. _Subdue the earth, and have dominion._] Make it... [ Continue Reading ]
And 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. Ver. 29. _Behold, I have given you._] By this "behold," God stirs up them and us to confidence... [ Continue Reading ]
And 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. Ver. 30. _And it was so._] Both man and beast were well paid of God's appointment, as good cause they had... [ Continue Reading ]
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Ver. 31. _Behold it was very good._] Or, extreme good, pleasant and profitable, a curious and glorious frame, full of admirable variety and skill, such as caused delight an... [ Continue Reading ]