< Psal. 136.

5

Jer. 10. 12.

& 51.15.

Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas; and God saw that it was good.

8 And God called the dfirmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9¶ And God said, Let the 136.5 waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Job 38. 8.

6. Let there be a firmament] The earth is spoken of as covered with waters, partly, that is, the waters of the sea, partly the heavy clouds and vapours, which hung round it in its state of desolation and darkness. The dispersion of some of these vapours lets in the light. Then, in the present verse, the clouds and mists are described as raised up above the firmament, the firmament itself dividing between the waters of the ocean and the clouds of heaven. It is plain from this that the word rendered firmament embraces the atmosphere immediately surrounding the surface of the earth, which bears up the clouds floating in it, in or on the face of which also the birds are described as flying (see v. 20). In v. 14 the word is extended further to embrace the whole region of the sky in which sun and moon and stars appear. In this respect, as Le Clerc notices, it corresponds with the classical word cælum, which meant at times the air just round us, at other times the place of the stars and planets; and so likewise of our own English word beaven, we may say the birds of heaven, the clouds of heaven, or the stars of heaven. The original sense of the word has been much debated, but is of little consequence; for the

sacred writer would use the common language of his people, and not go out of his way to devise one which would be philosophically accurate. The verb, from which the substantive is derived, signifies (1) to beat or stamp upon, Ezek. vi. 11, xxv. 6; (2) to spread abroad by stamping, 2 S. xxii. 43; (3) to beat out metal into thin plates, or gold into gold leaf, Ex. xxxix. 3, Num. xvi. 38, Isai. xl. 19; (4) to spread forth, extend, stretch out, Job xxxvii. 18, Ps. cxxxvi. 6, Is. xlii. 5, xliv. 24. The most probable meaning of the substantive therefore is the expanse

VOL. I.

tender

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding Heb. seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

grass.

12 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. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14 ¶ And God said, Let there 1916. be lights in the firmament of the

Deut 4.

Psal. 7.

or the expansion. The LXX. rendered it firmament (see here Quarry 'on Genesis,' p. 79); and hence it has been argued that Moses taught the sky to be a hard, metallic vault, in which the sun and stars were fixed; but the most learned modern commentators, including Gesenius, Kalisch, &c., believe the true etymology of the word to shew that expanse, not firmament, is the right translation. The teaching however of the present passage does not depend on the etymology of the word. If a writer in the present day uses the English word heaven, it does not follow, that he supposes the sky to be a vault heaved up from the earth. Neither would it follow that the inspired writer had taught, that the portion of atmosphere, intervening between the sea and the clouds, was a solid mass, even if the word used for it had etymologically signified solidity.

have here the first calling forth of life upon 11. Let the earth bring forth grass] We ceeded by animal life. The earth was made the earth, vegetable life first, soon to be sucfruitful, and three kinds of vegetation were assigned to it; the tender grass, the common covering of the soil, fit chiefly for the use of the lower animals; herb bearing seed,

which should be adapted to the service of man; and trees, with their conspicuous fruits; be in themselves, that they should contain, all three so ordained, that their seed should not a principle of life only, but a power also of fecundity, whereby the race should be perpetuated from generation to generation.

14. Let there be lights] Lit. luminaries, light-bearers, spoken of lamps and candlesticks, Ex. xxv. 6, Num. iv. 9, 16. The narrative only tells what sun, moon, and stars are in relation to the earth. When the clouds and mists are dispelled from its surface, the

C

seas confined within their boundaries, and the first vegetation springs up; then the sky is cleared up, the sun, moon, and stars appear and assume their natural functions, marking days and nights, seasons and years; and God makes or appoints them, the sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night.

16. he made the stars also] The purpose of the sacred narrative being to describe the adaptation of the earth to the use of man, no account is taken of the nature of the stars, as suns or planets, but merely as signs in the heavens. The words in the text may be a kind of parenthesis, not assigning the special time of the creation of the stars. Moreover, the word used is "made," not "created," see on v. I. When the Sun and Moon became great lights to rule the day and to rule the night, then also the stars shone forth; the heavens were lit up by the sun in the daytime, by the moon and stars in the nightseason, all of them declaring the glory of God and shewing His handy-work.

20. the moving creature] The versions render reptiles. The word is of wide significance, most frequently used of reptiles and fishes; the verb from which it comes, and which is here translated "bring forth abundantly," means to swarm, to creep, to propagate itself rapidly. We may probably therefore understand here the insect creation, the fishes of the sea, and the reptiles and saurians of sea and land. that hath life] Literally perhaps, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of the breath of life." Let the waters teem with innu

1 Or,

creeping.

bring forth abundantly the 'moving creature that hath life, and fowl Heb. that may fly above the earth in the 'open firmament of heaven.

soul.

↑ Heb.

firma

heaven

21 And God created great whales, face of the and every living creature that moveth, ment of which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind; and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill chap. & the waters in the seas, and let fowl & 9 1. multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 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,

life.

17.

The word nephesh, which we have rendered breath, corresponds nearly with the classical psyche, the vital principle. It is used of the breath, of the living principle, of the soul or seat of feelings and affections, and of living beings themselves.

and fowl, &c.] and let fowl fly.

.9,

21. great whales] Great sea monsters. The word is used of serpents, Ex. vii. q Deut. xxxii. 33, Ps. xci. 13, Jer. li. 34, and of the crocodile, Ezek. xxix. 3, xxxii. 2. It is not likely that the Israelites should have had much knowledge of the larger species of whales which do not frequent the shores of the Mediterranean. Their early acquaintance with Egypt had impressed them with a horror of the crocodile, and in the desert they had become familiar with large serpents. In Is. xxvii. 1, and perhaps in Job vii. 12, this name apparently belongs to sea monsters; but we may remember that the Hebrews applied the term sea to great rivers also, like the Nile and the Euphrates. (See Is. xix. 5, Jer. li. 36, Ezek. xxxii. 2, Nahum iii. 8.) It seems, on the whole, most probable, that the creatures here said to have been created were serpents, crocodiles, and other huge saurians, though possibly any large monsters of sea or river may be included. The use of the word created in this place has already been remarked on v. 1. Another reason for its use may be, that, as the Egyptians paid idolatrous worship to crocodiles, the sacred historian would teach that they also were creatures of God.

25 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.

and the air with birds. The work of the sixth day gives inhabitants to the land, "cattle" (i.e. the well-known animals, which afterwards became domesticated, though the name was not exclusively attached to them), "and creeping things," such as serpents, lizards, crawling insects and the like, "and beast of the earth," i. e. either the wilder and fiercer beasts, as distinguished from cattle, or perhaps more generally animals of all kinds.

26. And God said, Let us make man] It has been observed by commentators, both Jewish and Christian (e. g. Abarbanel, in loc. Chrysost. in loc.), that the deliberation of the Creator is introduced, not to express doubt, but to enhance the dignity of the last work, the creation of man. So even Von Bohlen, "A gradual ascent is observed up to man, the chief work of creation, and in order to exalt his dignity, the act of his creation is accompanied by the deliberations of the Creator." The creative fiat concerning all other creatures runs, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly," "Let the earth bring forth," &c. Man is that great "piece of work," concerning which God is described as taking forethought and counsel, as making him in His own image, and (ch. ii. 7) as breathing into him the breath of life. Three times in v. 27 the verb created is used concerning the production of man; for, though his bodily organization may, like that of the beasts, have been produced from already created elements ("the dust of the ground,' ch. ii. 7); yet the complex being, man, “of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting,' was now for the first time called into being, and so was, unlike the beasts, wholly a new creation.

Let us make] The Jews vary much in their explanation of these words. Philo speaks of "the Father of all things addressing his own powers" (De Profugis,' p. 359). The Talmud says, "The Holy One, Blessed be He, does nothing without consulting the family which is above" (Sanhed. c. iv.). Moses Gerundinus says, that God addressed the earth, for, as the earth was to give man the body, whilst God was to infuse the spirit, so "in our likeness" was to be referred both to God and to the earth. Abenezra writes, "When, according to God's commandment, the earth and the sea had brought forth plants and living beings, then God said to the angels, 'Let us make man, we will be occupied in his creation, not the seas and the earth." So he considers man to have been

made after the likeness of the angels. To a similar effect Maimonides, 'More Nevochim,' p. ii. ch. 6. See Munster in loc., Cleric. in loc., Heidegger, p. 32.

Some interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, have understood a plural of dignity, after the manner of kings. This is the opinion of Gesenius and most of the Germans. But the royal style of speech was probably a custom of much later date than the time of Moses.

14.

Thus we read Gen. xli. 41-44, "I have set thee over the land of Egypt.... I am Pharaoh." Indeed this royal style is unknown in Scripture. Some of the modern rationalists believe (or affect to believe) that the plural ancient polytheism, and that though Moses name of God, Elohim, was a mere relic of habitually attaches a singular verb to the plural nominative, yet here "the plural unconsciously escaped from the narrator's pen" (Von Bohl.). The ancient Christians with one mind see in these words of God that plurality in the Divine unity, which was more fully revealed, when God sent His only begotten Son into the world, and when the only begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, declared Him to mankind. So e. g. Barnabas (ch. iv.), Justin M., Irenæus, Theophil., Epiphan. (Hæres.' xxxiii. 4–2), Theodoret ('Quæst. in Gen.').

Christian writers think that nothing is meant in our image, after our likeness] Many except that man was created holy and innocent, and that this image of God was lost when Adam fell. That holiness, indeed, formed part of the likeness may be inferred from Col. iii. 10, "the new man, which is renewed after the image of Him that created him;" but that the image of God was not wholly obliterated by the fall seems clear from Gen. ix. 6, Jas. iii. 9. And, if so, then that image did not simply consist in perfect holiness. Some, both Jewish and Christian, have supposed that it referred to that dominion, which is here assigned to man. God rules over all, so man was constituted the governor of the animal world. St Basil M. in 'Hexaemeron' (qu. by Clericus) considers that the likeness consisted in freedom of will. This probably is a most important point in the resemblance. The brute creatures are gifted with life and will and self-consciousness, and even with some powers of reason; but they have no self-determining will, no choice between good and evil, no power of self-education, no proper moral character,

As

4.

Wisd. 2.

23.

m chap. 9.

1.

all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he Matt. 19. him; 'male and female created he them. 28 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.

↑ Heb. creepeth. ↑ Heb. seeding seed.

29 ¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb 'bearing seed,

and so no true personality. God is the essentially personal Being, and in giving to man an immortal soul, He gave him also a true personality, self-consciousness, power of free choice, and so distinct moral responsibility.

NOTE A on CHAP. I. v. 5. THE vexed question of the duration of the days of creation cannot readily be solved from consideration of the wording of this verse. The English Version would seem to confine it to natural days, but the original will allow much greater latitude. Time passed in regular succession of day and night. It was an ingenious conjecture of Kurtz, adopted by Hugh Miller, that the knowledge of pre-Adamite history, like the knowledge of future ages, may have been communicated to Moses, or perhaps to the first man, in prophetic vision, that so perhaps vast geological periods were exhibited to the eye of the inspired writer, each appearing to pass before him as so many successive days. It has been said moreover that the phenomena under the earth's surface correspond with the succession as described in this chapter, a period of comparative gloom, with more vapour and more carbonic acid in the atmosphere, then of greater light, of vegetation, of marine animals and huge reptiles, of birds, of beasts, and lastly of man. (See Kurtz, Vol. I. p. xxvii. sq., Hugh Miller, "Test. of Rocks,' passim, &c.) In the present condition of geological science, and with the great obscurity of the record of creation in this chapter, it may be wise not to attempt an accurate comparison of the one with the other. Some few points, however, seem clearly to come out. In Genesis, first of all, creation is spoken of as "in the beginning," a period of indefinite, possibly of most remote distance in the past; secondly, the progress of the preparation of the earth's surface is described as gradually advancing from the rocks to the vegetable world, and the less perfectly organised animal creation, then gradually

ON THE DAYS OF CREATION. mounting up through birds and mammals, till it culminates in man. This is the course of creation as popularly described in Genesis, and the rocks give their testimony, at least in the general, to the same order and progress. The chief difference, if any, of the two witnesses would seem to be, that the Rocks speak of (1) marine plants, (2) marine animals, (3) land plants, (4) land animals in their successive developements; whereas Moses speaks of (1) plants, (2) marine animals, (3) land animals; a difference not amounting to divergence. As physiology must have been nearly and geology wholly unknown to the Semitic nations of antiquity, such a general correspondence of sacred history with modern science is surely more striking and important than any apparent difference in details. Efforts have been made to compare the Indian cosmogony with the Biblical, which utterly fail. The cosmogony of the Hindoos is thoroughly adapted to their Pantheistic Theology, the Hebrew corresponding with the pure personal Monotheism of the Old Testament. The only important resemblance of any ancient cosmogony with the Scriptural account is to be found in the Persian or Zoroastrian; which is most naturally accounted for, first by the fact, which will be noticed hereafter, that the Persians, of all people, except the Hebrews, were the most likely to have retained the memory of primitive traditions, and secondly, that Zoroaster was probably brought into contact with the Hebrews, and perhaps with the prophet Daniel in the court of Darius, and may have learned much from such association.

CHAP. II. 3. And God blessed the seventh day] The natural interpretation of these words is that the blessing of the Sabbath was immediately consequent on the first creation of man, for whom the Sabbath was made (Mar. ii. 27). It has been argued from the silence concerning its observance by the patriarchs, that no Sabbatic ordinance was really given until the promulgation of the Law, and that this passage in Genesis is not historical but anticipatory. There are several objections, which seem fatal to this theory. It is first to be observed, that this verse forms an integral part of that history of the creation, which, if there be any truth in the distinction, is the oldest portion of the Pentateuch, the work of the Elohist, very possibly handed down from the earliest ages of the world, and taken by Moses as the very groundwork of his inspired narrative. Secondly, the history of the patriarchs extending over at least 2500 years is all contained in the book of Genesis, and many things must have been omitted, much more memorable than the fact of their resting on the Sabbath, which in their simple pastoral life would seldom have called for special notice. Thirdly, there are indications even in Genesis of a division of days into weeks or hebdomades. Thus Noah is said twice to have waited seven days, when sending the dove out of the ark, Ġen. viii. IO, 12. And the division of time into weeks is clearly recognized in the history of Jacob, Gen. xxix. 27, 28. The same hebdomadal division was known to other nations, who are not likely to have borrowed it from the Israelites after the time of the Exodus. Moreover, it appears that, before the giving of the commandments from Mount Sinai, the Israelites were acquainted with the law of the Sabbath. In Ex. xvi. 5 a double portion of manna is promised on the sixth day, that none need be gathered on the Sabbath. This has all the appearance of belonging to an acknowledged, though perhaps neglected, ordinance of Divine Service, not as if then for

the first time the Sabbath were ordained and consecrated. The simple meaning of the text is therefore by far the most probable, viz. that God, having divided His own great work into six portions, assigned a special sacredness to the seventh on which that work became

complete; and that, having called man into being, He ordained him for labour, but yet in love and mercy appointed that one-seventh of his time should be given to rest and to the religious service of his Maker. This truth is repeated in the Ivth Commandment, Ex. xx. 11; though there was a second and special reason why the Jews should observe the Sabbath day, Deut. v. 15: and very probably the special day of the seven, which became the Jewish Sabbath, was the very day on which the Lord brought them from the land of bondage, and gave them rest from the slavery of Egypt. If this reasoning be true, all mankind are interested in the sanctification of the Sabbath, though Jews only are required to keep that Sabbath on the Saturday; and not only has it been felt by Divines that the religious rest of the seventh day is needful for the preservation of the worship of God, but it has been acknowleged even by statesmen and physiologists that the ordinance is invaluable for the physical and moral benefit of mankind. The truly merciful character of the ordinance is fully developed in the Law, where it is extended not only to the manservant and maidservant, but to the ox and the ass and the cattle, that they also should rest with their masters, Ex. xx. 10, Deut. v. 14.

which God created and made] Lit. "which God created to make." So the Targum of Onkelos and the Syriac version render it. The Vulgate has "which God created that He might make it." On the difference between the verbs create and make see on ch. i. I. The natural meaning of the words here is, that God first created the material universe, "the heavens and the earth," and then made, moulded and fashioned the new created matter into its various forms and

organisms. This is the explanation of the R. Nachmanides, "all His work which He had created out of nothing, in order that He might make out of it all the works which are recorded in the six days." (Quoted by Fagius, 'Crit. Sacri.')

4. These are the generations, &c.] The Jews tell us, that, when these words occur without the copulative and, they separate the words following from those preceding, but