The First Book of MOSES, called GENESIS. CHAP. I. _God created the heaven and the earth: divided the light from the darkness: separated the superior from the inferior waters: supplied the earth with vegetables: furnished the heavens with light: created the brute animals: and, lastly, man._... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse may be understood as a general introduction to the account of the creation, which Moses is about to give; asserting, in confutation of all who held the eternity or fortuitous formation of the world, that the Almighty God gave a beginning to it, by creating the heaven and the earth. It may... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE EARTH WAS WITHOUT FORM, AND VOID— In its first state the earth, or the whole of the terraqueous globe, was a mere confused chaos, without any regular form, or without any of its present furniture, plants, trees, animals, &c. _DARKNESS ON THE FACE OF THE DEEP_— Every thing was yet in a stagn... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAID— _To speak_ and _to will,_ with the Almighty, is to _command._ His word is with power. Struck with the grandeur of this passage, the celebrated Grecian critic Longinus produces it as an instance of the true sublime. "So likewise," says he, "the Jewish legislator, no ordinary person, (ου... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IT WAS GOOD— The word טוב _tob,_ signifies not only what is _goodly_ and _pleasant_ in itself, but what is _useful_ and _fit_ for the end to which it is designed. And surely it could not be more properly applied than at the first, to that _light,_ which, as Cowley calls it, is, "Active Nature'... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD CALLED THE LIGHT DAY, AND THE DARKNESS HE CALLED NIGHT— He gave them names as Lord of both, for _the day is his, the night also is his._ He is the Lord of time, and will be so till day and night shall come to an end, and the stream of time be swallowed up in the ocean of eternity. Let us then ac... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THERE BE A FIRMAMENT IN THE MIDST OF THE WATERS— After having given an account of the generation of _light,_ the sacred writer goes on to inform us of the generation of the _air,_ or of that _expansive element_ which fills the space between the earth and the highest regions, and which goes under... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD CALLED, &C.— And this _expanse_ God called _heaven, shemmim,_ (because _waters_ were _there_ placed,) from שׁם _sham,_ there, and מים _maim,_ waters: a derivation the rather to be approved, because, as we shall see throughout the scriptures, the Hebrew names were generally given from the _ac... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAID, LET THE WATERS BE GATHERED TOGETHER— After the elements of _light_ and _air_ were appointed to their proper places, the next in density, the _water, i.e._. the lower water, or that under the air, is separated, by the divine direction; and thus, at length, the _earth,_ or dry land, emer... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAID, LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH GRASS, &C.— The elements being formed, the sea collected to its proper place, and the surface of the earth appearing, the next act of Divine Power was to clothe that surface with the beautiful furniture which we now behold upon it. Accordingly he gave his almi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHTS— The Almighty now proceeds to furnish the heaven, or expanse of air, after having furnished the earth; and so to complete his _inanimate_ creation. The light, by whatever means till now sustained, was to be collected; or, at least, two great _bodies_ were to be form... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STARS ALSO— The abrupt manner in which this passage seems to be introduced, has caused some writers to imagine it an interpolation: whereas the abruptness of the manner is owing principally to the parenthesis; remove which, and the passage runs thus: _And God made two great lights, and also the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SAID, LET THE WATERS, &C.— The formation of things inanimate being completed, the all-wise Creator proceeds, from the most noble of these, the _heavenly bodies,_ to those which are next in degree, the least noble of the _animate_ creation, namely, the inhabitants of the waters. Houbigant jus... [ Continue Reading ]
CREATED GREAT WHALES— The word התנינם _hathaninim,_ which we render _great whales,_ signifies "any kind of large aquatic or amphibious animals;" under which, whales, crocodiles, and the like, may properly be classed. The sacred writer intends only to inform us by that expression of the creation of t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD BLESSED THEM, &C.— Not only their being, but the continuance of it is provided for. Life is a fleeting thing; succession is needful. God hath commanded it shall be, and, in virtue of his blessing, the heavens are stocked with fowl, and the fish replenish the waters; and all for the use of ma... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH, &C.— From the fish and the fowl the great Creator proceeds to the superior order of terrestrial animals; which are classed under the three ranks of: 1st, cattle, all tame and domestic animals; 2nd, creeping things, all of the reptile kind; and 3rdly, beasts of the earth, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD MADE, &C.— As a sufficient proof that the earth did not _generate_ the animals of itself, by any prolific power in it, the formation of them is here appropriated to God. For the sacred writer, by these words, would give us to understand, that the Creator, as the absolute Master of nature, ga... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE— Behold the finishing stroke of the Divine Creator, Man, the last and greatest work of God. Animal life was produced: but now at last the crown of creation is brought forth in a rational soul. The earth, like a stately palace furnished for his reception, seems to call fo... [ Continue Reading ]
MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM— Man is but half himself without his partner woman. From this original pair descend the numerous generations of men that have overspread the earth. How foolish and vain then is the pride of pedigree, when the beggar on the dunghill can claim the most ancient and ennob... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD BLESSED THEM, &C.— He pronounced his blessing upon them: he gave them the earth as their possession, and commanded them to multiply and replenish it with inhabitants. Children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord. _AND SUBDUE IT_— Man by his superior wisdom... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL BE FOR MEAT— It is evident from this grant of food to man, in the present verse, and from that to the brute animals in the next, that the use of flesh in the beginning was allowed to neither: and, consequently, that the now carnivorous animals then fed upon grass, &c. as the tame ones among... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, IT WAS VERY GOOD— The separate productions are pronounced _good:_ but when the whole is perfected, and, as it were, surveyed by the Almighty Master, or Creator, the superlative particle is added, and the whole is pronounced _very good,_ perfectly adapted to answer the end for which it was de... [ Continue Reading ]