“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day. God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water. So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so. God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning, a second day. God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so. God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good. God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning, a third day. God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. God made two great lights – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day. God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day. God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.” It was so. God saw all that he had made – and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.”
— Genesis 1:1-31
“The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.”
— Genesis 2:1-3
There’s obviously a bunch of debate on the opening verses of the Bible/Genesis1-11 as a whole. Books and entire organizations devoted to these passages. Not my intent to dive into everything here. I am by no means an expert, and I will never write a book on this. I have nothing major to contribute to this debate, and my language will not be nuanced as it should be.
I have taken in depth courses that support multiple various views, as in two or three major semesters worth in support of 6 literal days, and then multiple semesters worth of in depth study of the text and Ancient Near Eastern culture. With some supplemental reading, here are my conclusions:
Verse 1 is a summary statement of sorts/thesis statement. God created the heavens and the earth. The rest of the chapter gives more details (and heavens there is not three levels of heaven or even the highest ultimate heaven. It just means atmosphere or sky.)
The greatest priority in this passage, as always, is understanding these things as the original audience would have. And that doesn’t settle the debate by a long shot, but we have to keep digging and not assume that our culture, language, assumptions align with a culture and language 4000 years ago. They have a completely different frame of reference for so many things.
V. 2 The earth was without form and void. Waters over deep. This seems to assume that something already existed. I’m not saying God didn’t creat that, too. But Genesis 1 doesn’t seem to emphasize where the original matter came from. It assumes it (unless you take v. 1 as that initial creation.) The significance here is the waters, which to this audience would signify chaos, destruction, doom. But the Spirit is over the waters.
This flies in the face of other ancient creation stories where the gods were part of their creation. YHWH sits over his, cf Ps 93.
Regardless of interpretation of creation, many point to “formless and void” as key to interpretation. As if God forms on Days 1-3 and then fills the void on Days 4-6. May be helpful, and may be somewhat true of authors intent, but not precisely true. It would be so nice if what’s formed/separated on Day 1, 2, 3 was filled by what’s created on Days 4, 5, 6, respectively. But how does sun (4) “fill” the light (1)? The sun more fills the expanse created on Day 2. And birds (5) go in the sky below the expanse, not the waters above the expanse. (By the way, what are those waters above the expanse? Can we say, save it for another post).
The better way to read this is to see progressive explanations day by day. So on Day 1, we have God talking, light appears, and the day is done. On Day 2, there’s a little more explanation of why God is separating water from water. On Day 3, God speaks twice, and on Day 4, God speaks twice and gives purpose behind His created things. This progression continues to expand for Day 5 and 6. And on Day 6, there’s several verses of the what, the why, and the earth is teeming with life.
The purpose of this building is for the climactic act of creation: humanity. God makes humans in His image and gives them a command to have dominion over the earth. An image would be set up by a king over the entirety of His kingdom so that inhabitants or newly conquered peoples would know who the sovereign was. Humans were made to reflect the character and mission of YHWH. They share in the reign of YHWH over His earth.
John Walton emphasizes seeing the earth as YHWH’s temple. The 7 day structure plays into this, but I haven’t studied this extensively. The idea that YHWH rests is parallel to the king taking up residence in the palace or temple. God is not taking a break or growing tired. He is sitting on the throne and establishing humans as His delegates.
When we compare the biblical text with creation texts from other cultures, whether Egyptian creation myths or Enuma Elish, the similarities and differences are incredible. Some have the gods creating from sneezing or a tear, none by just speaking. However, the sequence of creation in the Egyptian texts is remarkably similar. However, humans are always an accident or afterthought. The gods are represented by creation, and they battle to make creation happen. The biblical text confirms there is one God, He is Sovereign over His creation, and He values humanity. Not only, He invites them into His mission to redeem the world.
Genesis 1 is not the only passage that discusses the act of creation. There are a few Psalms, Proverbs passages, texts in the prophets, and a couple sprinkled throughout the NT. The details are not always the same. I’m not suggesting we have to throw away our cherished doctrines, but we have to answer some difficult questions about genre, the possibility of flawed understandings, which texts are normative and why, and which doctrines are essential to faith. I firmly believe the one God is the source of all that exists.
The purpose of Genesis 1 may not be a frame by frame account of how things occurred. It may have a different intention. Or it may not. I choose to bump this down the hierarchy of doctrines a step or two. But I love studying this passage and seeing the mission and purpose of God.
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