The Pulpit Commentaries
Genesis 1:6-8
EXPOSITION
Day two. The work of this day consisted in the formation of that immense gaseous ocean, called the atmosphere, by which the earth is encircled. And God said, Let there be a firmament (rakiya, an expand, from rakah, to beat out; LXX; στερεìωμα; Vulgate, firmamentum) in the midst of the waters. To affirm with Knobel, Gesenius, and others that the Hebrews supposed the atmospheric heavens to be a metallic substance (Exodus 24:10), a vault fixed on the water-flood which surrounds the earth (Proverbs 8:27), firm as a molten looking-glass (Job 37:18), borne by the highest mountains, which are therefore called the pillars and foundations of heaven (2 Samuel 22:8), and having doors and windows (Genesis 7:11; Genesis 28:17; Psalms 78:23), is to confound poetical metaphor with literal prose, optical and phenomenal language with strict scientific statement. The Vulgate and English translations of rakiya may convey the idea of solidity, though it is doubtful if στερεìωμα (LXX.) does not signify that which makes firm as well as that which is made firm (McCaul, Wordsworth, W. Lewis), thus referring to the well-known scientific fact that the atmosphere by its weight upon the waters of the sea keeps them down, and by its pressure against our bodies keeps them up; but it is certain that not solidity, but expansiveness, is the idea represented by rakiya (cf. Scottish, tax, to stretch; Job 37:18; Psalms 104:2; Isaiah 40:22).
"The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffused
In circuit to the uttermost convex Of this great round."
(Milton, 'Par. Lost,' Bk. 7.)
And let it divide the waters from the waters. What these waters were, which were designed to be parted by the atmospheric firmament, is explained in the verse which follows.
And God made the firmament. How the present atmosphere was evolved from the chaotic mass of waters the Mosaic narrative does not reveal. The primary intention of that record being not to teach science, but to discover religious truth, the thing of paramount importance to be communicated was that the firmament was of God's construction. This, of course, does not prevent us from believing that the elimination of those gases (twenty-one parts of oxygen and seventy-nine of nitrogen, with a small proportion of carbonic acid gas and aqueous vapor) which compose our atmosphere was not effected by natural means; and how far it may have been assisted by the action of the light upon the condensing mass of the globe is a problem in the solution of which science may legitimately take an interest. And divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. The upper waters are not the material of the stars (Delitzsch, Wordsworth), although Jupiter is of the same density as water, and Saturn only half its density; but the waters floating about in the higher spaces of the air. The under waters are not the lower atmospheric vapors, but the oceanic and terrestrial waters. How the waters are collected in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, Scripture, no less than science, explains to be by means of evaporation (Genesis 2:6; Job 36:27; Job 37:16). These latter passages suggest that the clouds are balanced, suspended, upheld by the buoyancy of the air in exact accordance with scientific principles. And it was so. Six times these words occur in the creation record. Sublimely suggestive of the resistless energy of the Divine word, which speaks, and it is done, commands, and it standeth fast, they likewise remind us of the sweet submissiveness of the creature to the all-wise Creator's will, and, perhaps, are designed as well to intimate the fixed and permanent character of those arrangements to which they are attached.
And God called the firmament heaven. Literally, the heights, shamayim, as in Genesis 1:1. "This," says Principal Dawson, "may be regarded as an intimation that no definite barrier separates our film of atmosphere from the boundless abyss of heaven without;" and how appropriate the designation "heights" is, as applied to the atmosphere, we are reminded by science, which informs us that, after rising to the height of forty-five miles above the earth, it becomes imperceptible, and loses itself in the universal ether with which it is surrounded. And the evening and the morning were the second day. For the literal rendering of this clause see on Genesis 1:5, It is observable that in connection with the second day's work the usual formula, "And God saw that it was good," is omitted. The "καιÌ εἰδεν ὁ θεος ὁìτι καλοìν" of the Septuagint is unsupported by any ancient version. The conceit of the Rabbis, that an expression of the Divine approbation was omitted because on this day the angels fell, requires no refutation. Aben Ezra accounts for its omission by making the second day's work terminate with verse 10. Lange asks, "Had the prophetic author some anticipation that the blue vault was merely an appearance, whilst the sarans of the Septuagint had no such anticipation, and therefore proceeded to doctor the passage?" The explanation of Calvin, Delitzsch, Macdonald, and Alford, though declared by Kalisch to be of no weight, is probably the correct one, that the work begun on the second day was not properly terminated till the middle of the third, at which place, accordingly, the expression of Divine approbation is introduced (see verse 10).
HOMILETICS
The atmospheric firmament.
I. THE CREATURE OF GOD.
1. From God it received its being (Genesis 1:7). Not here alone, but in other parts, Scripture declares the firmament to be the Divine handiwork (Psalms 19:1; Psalms 104:2). Whence we may note—
(1) That not it, the creature, should receive our worship, but he, its Maker, who is God over all, blessed forever.
(2) That since the firmament was made by God, it must belong to him. If at the present moment it is the special abode of the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), it must be a usurped dominion. The air with all its beams and showers, quite as much as the earth with all its trees and flowers, is God's property (Genesis 14:22; Psalms 24:1, c.).
(3) That in all its movements it only carries out the will of its Creator. The air does nothing of itself. Under the reign of law as all created things are, the law that reigns is itself beneath the rule of God. The Hebrew mind never mistook things for persons, or creatures for the Creator (Psalms 148:8); it is only modern science that degrades the Creator from his throne, and puts the creature in his seat.
2. From God it received its function (Genesis 1:6),—to divide between the upper and the lower waters,—which was—
(1) Simple, i.e. in the sense of not being complex. Though its uses are manifold, they are all contained in this, that it floats up and sustains the vapors rising from the earth at a sufficient distance from the terrestrial waters.
(2) Necessary. Without a clear body of atmospheric air between the waters, human life could not have existed. And equally without the watery clouds swimming in the atmosphere, both vegetable and animal life would perish. "Were the air absolutely dry, it would cause the water in plants to evaporate from their leaves more rapidly than it could be supplied to them by the soil and the roots. Thus they would speedily become flaccid, and the whole plant would droop, wither, and die." Similarly, "were the air which man draws into his lungs entirely free from watery fluid, he would soon breathe out the fluids which fill up his tissues, and would dry up into a withered and ghastly mummy".
(3) Beneficent. Collecting the vapors of the earth in the form of clouds, it is thus enabled to throw-them down again in the shape of rain, snow, or dew, according as it is required.
3. From God it received its name.
(1) Suitable. "Heights," significant of the reality.
(2) Suggestive. "The love, the power, the majesty of God, his thoughts, his ways, his purposes when compared with man's, are set forth to us by the height of the heaven above the earth."
II. THE SERVANT OF MAN.
1. Indispensable. Without the air, man could not live. His physical being would perish without its oxygen. Without its pressure his bodily structure would fall to pieces.
2. Valuable. The uses of the atmosphere to man as a resident on earth are manifold. It supports animal and vegetable life around him. It conveys, refracts, and decomposes light. It transmits sound. It draws up noxious vapors from the soil, and disperses them by its winds. It assists him in a variety of his mechanical, chemical, commercial, and scientific enterprises.
3. Willing. Great as are its powers of service and its capacities of rebellion when excited with tempest, for the most part it is meek and docile, ever ready to acknowledge man as its master, and to execute his slightest wish.
4. Unwearied. Eve, since it received its appointment from God to minister to the happiness of man is has unrestingly performed that task, and betrays no more signs of weariness to-day than it did at the first.
5. Gratuitous. It gives its services, as its great Creator gives his blessings, without money and without price.
Let us learn—
1. To be thankful for the air we breathe.
2. To admire God's wisdom in the wonderful adjustments of the air.
3. To make the best use we can of that life which the air supports and subserves.