EXCURSUS B: ON THE NAMES ELOHIM AND JEHOVAH-ELOHIM. Throughout the first account of creation (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3) the Deity is simply called _Elohim._ This word is strictly a plural of _Eloah,_ which is used as the name of God only in poetry, or in late books like those of Nehemiah and Danie... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CREATIVE WEEK (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3). (1) IN THE BEGINNING. — Not, as in John 1:1, “from eternity,” but in the beginning of this sidereal system, of which our sun, with its attendant planets, forms a part. As there never was a time when God did not exist, and as activity is an essential pa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE EARTH. — The conjunction “and” negatives the well-meant attempt to harmonise geology and Scripture by taking Genesis 1:1 as a mere heading; the two verses go together, and form a general summary of creation, which is afterwards divided into its several stages. Was is not the copula, but the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CREATIVE DAYS. (3) AND GOD SAID. — Voice and sound there could be none, nor was there any person to whom God addressed this word of power. The phrase, then, is metaphorical, and means that God enacted for the universe a law; and ten times we find the command similarly given. The beauty and subli... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAW. — This contemplation indicates, first, lapse of time; and next, that the judgment pronounced was the verdict of the Divine reason. THAT IT WAS GOOD. — As light was a necessary result of motion in the world-mass, so was it indispensable for all that was to follow, inasmuch as neither ve... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD CALLED THE LIGHT DAY... NIGHT. — Before this distinction of night and day was possible there must have been outside the earth, not as yet the sun, but a bright phosphorescent mass, such as now enwraps that luminary; and, secondly, the earth must have begun to revolve upon its axis. Consequent up... [ Continue Reading ]
A FIRMAMENT. — This is the Latin translation of the Greek word used by the translators of the Septuagint Version. Undoubtedly it means something solid; and such was the idea of the Greeks, and probably also of the Hebrews. As such it appears in the poetry of the Bible, where it is described as a mig... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD MADE THE FIRMAMENT. — This wide open expanse upon earth’s surface, supplied by the chemistry of nature — that is, of God — with that marvellous mixture of gases which form atmospheric air, was a primary necessity for man’s existence and activity. In each step of the narrative it is ever man that... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD CALLED THE FIRMAMENT (THE EXPANSE) HEAVEN. — This is a Saxon word, and means _something heaved up._ The Hebrew probably means the _heights,_ or upper regions, into which the walls of cities nevertheless ascend (Deuteronomy 1:28). In Genesis 1:1, “the heaven” may include the abysmal regions of sp... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE WATERS BE GATHERED TOGETHER. — The verb, as Gesenius shows, refers rather to the condensation of water, which, as we have seen, was impossible till the surface of the earth was made cool by the radiation of heat into the open expanse around it. UNTO ONE PLACE. — The ocean bed. We must add t... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH GRASS. — This is the second creative act. The first was the calling of matter into existence, which, by the operation of mechanical and chemical laws, imposed upon it by the Creator, was arranged and digested into a cosmos, that is, an orderly and harmonious whole. These la... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THERE BE LIGHTS (LUMINARIES) IN THE FIRMAMENT (OR EXPANSE) OF THE HEAVEN. — In Hebrew the word for light is _ôr,_ and for luminary, _ma-ôr,_ a light-bearer. The light was created on the first day, and its concentration into great centres must at once have commenced; but the great luminaries did... [ Continue Reading ]
TO GIVE LIGHT. — This was to be henceforward the permanent arrangement for the bestowal of that which is an essential condition for all life, vegetable and animal. As day and night began on the first day, it is evident that very soon there was a concentrating mass of light and heat outside the earth... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MADE THE STARS ALSO. — The Hebrew is, _God made two great lights_... _to rule the night; and also the stars._ Though the word “also” carries back “the stars” to the verb “made,” yet its repetition in our version makes it seem as if the meaning was that God now created the stars; whereas the real... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE WATERS... IN THE OPEN FIRMAMENT. — The days of the second creative triad correspond to those of the first. Light was created on the first day, and on the fourth it was gathered into light-bearers; on the second day air and water were called into being, and on the fifth day they were peopled... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD CREATED GREAT WHALES. — Whales, strictly speaking, are mammals, and belong to the creation of the sixth day. But _tannin,_ the word used here, means any _long_ creature, and is used of serpents in Exodus 7:9 (where, however, it may mean a crocodile), and in Deuteronomy 32:33; of the crocodile in... [ Continue Reading ]
BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY. — This blessing shows that the earth was replenished with animal life from a limited number of progenitors, and probably from a small number of centres, both for the flora and for the fauna.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIFTH DAY. — Upon the work of the first four days geology is virtually silent, and the theories respecting the physical formation of the world belong to other sciences. But as regards the fifth day, its testimony is ample. In the lowest strata of rocks, such as the Cambrian and Silurian, we find... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH. — Neither this, nor the corresponding phrase in Genesis 1:20, necessarily imply spontaneous generation, though such is its literal meaning. It need mean no more than that land animals, produced on the dry ground, were now to follow upon those produced in the waters. Howeve... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US MAKE MAN. — Comp. Genesis 11:7. The making of man is so ushered in as to show that at length the work of creation had reached its perfection and ultimate goal. As regards the use of the plural here, Maimonides thinks that God took counsel with the earth, the latter supplying the body and Eloh... [ Continue Reading ]
CREATED. — This significant verb is thrice repeated with reference to man. It indicates, first, that man has that in him which was not a development or evolution, but something new. He is, in fact, the most perfect work of the creative energy, and differs from the animals not only in degree, but in... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY HERB BEARING SEED... EVERY TREE. — Of the three classes of plants enumerated in Genesis 1:11, the two most perfect kinds are given to man for his food; while in Genesis 1:30 the birds and animals have not merely the cryptogamous plants of the first class, but every _green herb_ granted to them... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, IT WAS VERY GOOD. — This final blessing of God’s completed work on the Friday must be compared with the final words of Christ spoken of the second creation, upon the same day of the week, when He said “It is finished.” Next we must notice that this world was only _good_ until man was placed... [ Continue Reading ]