THEBOOKOF
GENESIS.
§ 1. The First Account of Creation. The Six Days' Work: the Seventh Day's Rest.
1 1 <In the beginning>[1] God´[2] created[3] the
heavens and the earth.
2 Now ||the earth||[4] had become waste and wild,[5] and ||darkness||[6] was on the face of the roaring deep,[7]—but[8] ||the Spirit of God|| was brooding[9] on the face of the waters.[10]3 And God said´—
Light､ be´.
And light was´.4 And God saw´ the light､ that it was |good|,—and God divided´ |the light| from the |darkness|; 5 and God called´ |the light| ||day||, but <the darkness> called he ||night||.So it was[11] evening—and it was[11] morning､ |one´ day.|[12]
6 And God said´,
Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,—and let it be a means of dividing､ between waters and waters.[13]
7 And God made´ the expanse, and it divided between the waters that were under´ the expanse and the waters that were above´ the expanse. And it was´ so.[14] 8 And God called´ |the expanse| ||heavens||.So it was evening—and it was morning､ a |second´| day.
9 And God said´—
Let the waters under the heavens |be gathered together| into one´ place, and let the dry-ground´ appear´.
And it was´ so.[15]And God called´ |the
- ↑ Or: "At first." The definite article in the rendering, "In the beginning," cannot safely be pressed, inasmuch as the phrase may, as preferred by many expositors ancient and modern, be simply construed with what follows: "In the beginning of God's's creating," &c.
- ↑ Heb.: 'elohim´. "Prob. a plural of quality='God-head' (as our 'Lordship'='Lord'")—Davies' H.L., p. 9. It should be carefully observed that, although 'elohim is plural in form, yet when, as here, it is construed with a verb in the singular, it is naturally singular in sense; especially since the "plural of quality" or "excellence" abounds in Hebrew in cases where the reference is undeniably to something which must be understood in the singular number.
- ↑ "Prop, 'to cut' or 'carve': hence, 'form,' 'create'"—Davies' H.L., p. 103; "shape, create"—O.G.: not necessarily, nor generally, to make out of nothing, cp. verses 21, 27; chap. ii. 3; and Num. xvi. 30. Seeing that, outside this passage, no example in the O.T. can be found wherein a making out of nothing is plainly intended by the Heb. bara' the reader who insists on that meaning here does so on his own responsibility. The gratuitous introduction of difficulties should of course be avoided.
- ↑ The emphasis on "the earth" in ver. 2 is quite regular. (Cp. Intro., Chap. II, Synopsis, A,a). The effect of it here is to single out "the earth" from ver. 1, for special comment.
- ↑ Heb.: tóhu wâ-vóhu. Evidently an idiomatic phrase, with a play on the sound ("assonance"). The two words occur together only in Is. xxxiv. 11; Jer. iv. 23; examples which favour the conclusion that here also they describe the result of previous overthrow. Tóhu by itself is found in several other texts (Deu. xxxii. 10; Job xii. 24; Ps. cvii. 40; Is. xxiv. 10; xxxiv. 11; etc.).
- ↑ Cp. 2 Co. iv. 6.
- ↑ Heb. tehôm; Sep. "the abyss."
- ↑ This "but" is not demanded by the particle waw in itself, but springs naturally out of the tenour of the clause it introduces.
- ↑ The beautiful word "brooding"—an exact rendering of the Heb.—is most suggestive; since it vividly describes the cherishing of incipient life, as a preparation for its outburst. The participial form of such a word clearly denotes a process, more or less lengthened, rather than an instantaneous act. Standing where it does, it crowns the description of the condition of things on which the first creative mandate of the six days took effect.
- ↑ The rendering above given of these two important verses may be paraphrased as follows:—
"In the beginning [of the present order of things] God created [that is, shaped or formed according to his own divine idea] the heavens [above] and the earth [below].
"Now the earth [emphasised idiomatically for the purpose of singling it out for first remark] had become waste and wild [probably by previous catastrophe]; and darkness [emphasised as about to be dealt with] was on the face of the roaring deep; but [preparing the mind for a new order of things] the Spirit of God was brooding [with quickening effect] on the face of the waters. "And [things being so; such being the state of the earth] God said [and thus the renewing, re-creating divine acts commence]." - ↑ 11.0 11.1 Or: "became," "came to be." Connected with the opening word "so," the simple verb "was" has the same force. Cp. verses 8, 13, 19, 23, 31.
- ↑ By a well-attested Heb. idiom="a first day."
Here grammatical exegesis steps in and claims its own. Two ways of explaining this striking "refrain" are conceivable—the one, unnatural and absurd; the other, at once living and luminous. Either this six-times-repeated statement is a mere extraneous patch of information, having no organic connection with the creative acts amongst which it is inlaid—which no thoughtful reader can seriously suppose—or else on each occurrence it grows out of what has gone before. This being conceded, and the words then being grammatically rendered, the reader is on the high road to a correct decipherment of the days, as God-divided rather than sun-divided. Did the calling forth of "light" constitute the first morning.? If it did, then the previous "darkness" and the preparatory "brooding" must surely have constituted the first "evening." Then how long was the first day? If no one knows, then no one can say what was the length of the six days. Essential harmony suggests as a crown to the exegesis: That, as is man the little worker, doing a small work on six short days, so is God the great worker, doing a large work on six long, far-reaching days. - ↑ Gt. (w. Sep.): "And it was so" shd be added—G.n.
- ↑ Gt. (w. Sep.): "And it was so," here, shd be omitted—G.r.n.
- ↑ The Sep. here adds:—
And the waters were gathered together, from under the heavens into their place, and the dry ground appeared.—G.r.n.
