Genesis 1:31

And God saw everything that he had made,.... Either all that he had made on the several six days of the creation, he took a survey of them, looked over them again, as workmen do when they have

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Saw that it was very good.

No notes from Poole on this verse.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.Ver. 31. Behold it was very good.] Or, extreme good, pleasant and profitable, a curious and glorious frame, full of admirable variety and skill, such as caused delight and complacency in God, and commands contemplation and admiration from us, like as a great garden, stored with fruits and flowers, calls our eyes on every side. Wherefore else hath God given us a reasonable soul, and a Sabbath day, and a countenance bent upward, and, as they say, peculiar nerves in the eyes, to pull them up toward the seat of their rest? Besides a nature carried with delight after plays, pageants, masks, strange shows, and rare sights, which oft are sinful or vain, or, at best, imperfect and unsatisfactory? Surely those that "regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, God shall destroy, and not build them up"; which to prevent, good is the counsel of the prophet Amos; and that upon this very ground, "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel: for lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind," &c. When he had made man, he made an end of making anything more, because he meant to rest in man, to delight in him, to communicate himself unto him, and to be enjoyed by him throughout all eternity. And notwithstanding the fall, he hath "found a ransom," and "creating us in Christ Jesus unto good works," he "rejoiceth over" his new workmanship "with joy"; yea, he "rests in his love," and wilt seek no further But what a mouth of madness did Alfonso the Wise open, when he said openly, that if he had been of God’ s counsel at the creation, some things should have been better made and marshalled! Prodigious blasphemy! Bodin. Theat. Naturae. Roderit. Santii. Hist. Hisp. p. 4. c. 5. ex antiq. Annanlib.

(31) 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 upon it, but then became very good. This verdict, too, had respect to man as a species, and is not therefore annulled by the fall. In spite, therefore, of the serious responsibilities attendant upon the bestowal of freewill on man, we believe that the world is still for purposes of mercy, and that God not only rejoiced at first, but “shall rejoice in His works” (Psalms 104:31). (Comp. Psalms 85:10; Romans 5:15, &c.)

Verse 31. And, behold, it was very good.] טוב מאד tob meod, Superlatively, or only good; as good as they could be. The plan wise, the work well executed, the different parts properly arranged; their nature, limits, mode of existence, manner of propagation, habits, mode of sustenance, c., c., properly and permanently established and secured for every thing was formed to the utmost perfection of its nature, so that nothing could be added or diminished without encumbering the operations of matter and spirit on the one hand, or rendering them inefficient to the end proposed on the other and God has so done all these marvellous works as to be glorified in all, by all, and through all. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.] The word ערב ereb, which we translate evening, comes from the root ערב arab, to mingle; and properly signifies that state in which neither absolute darkness nor full light prevails. It has nearly the same grammatical signification with our twilight, the time that elapses from the setting of the sun till he is eighteen degrees below the horizon and the last eighteen degrees before he arises. Thus we have the morning and evening twilight, or mixture of light and darkness, in which neither prevails, because, while the sun is within eighteen degrees of the horizon, either after his setting or before his rising, the atmosphere has power to refract the rays of light, and send them back on the earth. The Hebrews extended the meaning of this term to the whole duration of night, because it was ever a mingled state, the moon, the planets, or the stars, tempering the darkness with some rays of light. From the ereb of Moses came the ερεβος Erebus, of Hesiod, Aristophanes, and other heathens, which they deified and made, with Nox or night, the parent of all things. The morning - בקר boker; From בקר bakar, he looked out; a beautiful figure which represents the morning as looking out at the east, and illuminating the whole of the upper hemisphere. The evening and the morning were the sixth day. - It is somewhat remarkable that through the whole of this chapter, whenever the division of days is made, the evening always precedes the morning. The reason of this may perhaps be, that darkness was pre-existent to light, (Genesis 1:2, And darkness was upon the face of the deep,) and therefore time is reckoned from the first act of God towards the creation of the world, which took place before light was called forth into existence. It is very likely for this same reason, that the Jews began their day at six o'clock in the evening in imitation of Moses's division of time in this chapter.

31. and, behold, it was very good] The work of the six days’ Creation having been completed, God, as it were, contemplates the universe both in its details and in its entirety. That which He saw to be “good,” on each separate day, was but a fragment; that which He sees to be “very good,” on the sixth day, is the vast ordered whole, in which the separate parts are combined. The Divine approval of the material universe constitutes one of the most instructive traits of the Hebrew cosmogony. According to it, matter is not something hostile to God, independent of Him, or inherently evil, but made by Him, ordered by Him, good in itself, and good in its relation to the purpose and plan of the Creator. The adjective “good” should not therefore be limited in meaning to the sense of “suitable,” or “fitting.” There is nothing “evil” in the Divinely-created universe: it is “very good” (LXX καλὰλίαν: Lat. valde bona).