Genesis 1
PAThe first made the fixed stars and all beyond them, (so I take the word heaven here to signify) for they had a beginning, as well as this lower world, though they do not seem to be comprehended in the six days’ work, which relates only to this planetary world, as I may call it, which hath, the sun for its centre. And thus Philo understood the first word bereschith, in the beginning, to respect the order wherein things were created. God began his creation with the heavens, as the most noble body, and then proceeded to the earth; an account of which follows. bv the " word of the Father, which he spake at first/’ when he established all the world by his counsels. So. his words are in ilapatreT. elg^EWrjyag. — P. 1G. And as there is nothing more famous in antiquity than the to’OpfiKov w6v, Orpheus’s egg, which I before, mentioned; so it. is remarkable, that the Egyptians, (among whom Orpheus travelled) described their God Kneph, with an egg coming out of his mouth, which was a lively representation of this world (noted, by. the egg) produced by God’s omnipotent Word: for how richly soever the chaos was furnished with materials, it could have brought forth nothing, without his powerful motion, and wise contrivance, by whom it was created. So Anaxagoras himself resolved, row per ctp-^y Ktyiiveu)? that Mind was the principle of motion (as Laertius fc tells us in his Life), by which Mind he understood God, as others have reported his opinion more largely in these admirable words: " The beginning of all things Isaiah 6Nov C, the Mind, who is the Cause and the Lord of the whole world, and gave ra&v rolg ardiCTOig, Kal Kivrjaiv toIq aKtyt)Totc, &c. order to. things in disorder, and mo: tion to things immoveable, and distinction to things confused, and beauty to things deformed." " Let there be light.] Having spoken of the creation of all. things, now follows an account of their formation out of that rnde matter which was at first created. And the first thing produced, was light, which Greg. Nazianzen (Orat. xliii. p. 099. a.) calls aVw/xarov kcu ar^Xeov, because it was not’ yet collected into a body, as it is now in.the sun. Others think it to have been a dimmer sort of light from the sun, not yet perfectly formed. Abarbinel (upon the xllh of Exodus) takes this to be the Schechinah, the most ex-. cellcnt of all created things, called, in Holy Scripture, the glory of the Lord; which God, saith he, sealed up in his. treasures, after the luminaries were created, to serve him upon special occasions (for instance, to lead the Israelites in the wilderness, by a cloudy pillar of fire), when he would make himself appear extraordinarily present. And because of the perfection ofthis%Whe fancies it is thatMoses says in the next verse, that " God saw the light (repeating the word light) that it was good:" whereas, in all the rest of the six days’ work, he only says, " He saw it was good," without naming again the thing he had made. But it seems to me most rational by this light, to under-, stand those particles of matter, which we call fire (whose two properties, every one knows, arc light and heat), which the almighty Spirit, that formed all things, produced as the great instrument for the preparation and digestion of the rest of the matter; which was still more vigorously moved and agitated, from the top to the bottom, by this restless clement, till the purer and more shining parts of it, being separated from the grosser, and united in a body fit to retain them, became light. were no clouds, neither had it, after this, rained on the earth. (Gen. ii. 6.) But it must be considered, that neither were the waters below as yet gathered into one place: and therefore Moses here speaks of the air, as a body intended to bo stretched between the waters above and beneath, when they should bo formed. That the clouds above are called waters in the Scripture language,’ is plain enough from Psalm civ. 3; Jer. x. 13; and other places. bringing forth seed to propagate their species to the end of all things. And here it is very remarkable, how God had secured the seeds of all plants with singular care: some of them being defended by a double, nay, a treble inclosure. the earth, it would not have been good for it; because it would have burnt up all the plants. that the earth had brought forth; and, by its too scorching heat, have hindered the production of those living creatures, which were ready on tho next day to be made, or, at least, made the earth unfit for their habitation. For the air, which all living tilings, even fishes themselves, need (nay, the plants also, which have vessels for conveying air to all their parts), would have been so very hot, that it would have afforded no refreshment to them: therefore it was good that it should be advanced into the firmament of the heaven, and there embodied in those luminaries, which, being removed, further from us, give such a moderate heat, as is necessary for the preservation of us and of all things liying that dwell upon the earth. " reptiles, there being serpents of a prodigious length, and other creeping things far smaller than ants; with a royal funeral, and a mourning of seventy days: which he thiwks is a round number for seventy-two: for Diodorus says so many were the days of mourning for their king. " It seeming reasonable to them, that a§ they gave the fifth part of the increase of their land to their king “when he was alive; so they should bestow the fifth part of the year upon him in mourning for him when he was dead: which was just seventy-two, not reckoning the five odd days, which did not come into their account. As to those who object that this was immoderate mourning, having more of ambition than piety in it; his answer is, That (granting it to be true) Joseph did not bring in this custom; and had peculiar reason to follow what he found in use there: that they might be the more condemned who vexed the innocent posterity, on whose parent they had bestowed royal honours. Besides, there is something due to kings and great men, to distinguish them from the dregs of the people.” Ver.’ 4. Andwhen the days of mourning were past.] That is, the seventy days beforenamecl. Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh’] To the great officers of the court; unto whom, it is most probable, he spake by a messenger: strict mourners (such as Joseph was) using to keep close in their chambers, and not to appear in public, or make visits. At least it was against the custom to appear in the court (if the same usage was there in those days, which was in the Persian court in Mordecai’s time; and such rational customs one cannot but think were very ancient) in the habit of a “mourner, (Esth. iv. 1, 2.) For which reason he did not go himself to make the following request to Pharaoh: they who were in the state of mourning being looked upon as defiled.
Genesis 1:1
AN the beginning. The world is not eternal, but had a beginning, as all philosophers acknowledged before Aristotle. So he himself informs us, (lib. I. de Coelo, cap. 2. speaking of the ancient opinions concerning the original of the WOrld) TevSfiwov jih olv airavrtg etvat
Genesis 1:2
And the earth was tvithout form, &c. Some connect this verse with the foregoing, by translating the first verse in this manner: lllien God first created, or began to create, the heaven and the earth, the earth was without form, &c. That is, at first he only created a rude matter of those things, which afterwards were fashioned as wc now see them. Without form.] A confused, indigested heap, without any order or shape. And void.] Having no beasts, nor trees, nor herbs, nor anything else, wherewith we now behold it adorned. So these two words, tohu vabohu, are used in Scripture, where we meet with them (which is not often) for confusion and emptiness, (Isa. xxxiv. 11; Jerem. iv.23.) being a description of that which the ancients called the Chaos (of which the Barbarians had a notion, no less than the Greeks), wherein the seeds and principles of all things were blended together. This is called, in the pagan language, by Epicharmus, irpwrov 0* uv, the first of the gods: because all things sprang out of this; which was indeed the first of the works of God, who, as Moses shews in the sequel, produced this beautiful world out of this chaos. And darkness was upon the face of the deep.] Nothing was to be seen, for w T ant of light; which lay buried, as all things else did, in that great abyss, or vast confused heap of matter, beforementioned. So the Hebrew word tehom signifies (which we translate deep) tumult and turbid confusion: the first matter being very heterogeneous, as they speak, i. e. of various sorts and kinds, huddled together without distinction. And the Spirit of God moved.] Men have been extremely fancifulin the exposition of these plain words: some understanding, by the Spirit of God, the sun, which gives spirit and life to all things upon earth; others, the air, or the wind; when as yet there was no sun in (he firmament, nor any wind that could stir, without the power of the Almighty to excite it. This therefore we arc to understand to be here meant: the infinite wisdom and power of God, which made a vehement commotion, and mighty fermentation (by raising, perhaps, a great wind) upon the face of the waters: that is, on that fluid matter beforementioned, to separate the parts of it one from the other. Waters.] That which Moses before called the deep, he now calls the waters; which plainly shews that some parts of the confused mass were fluid and light, a^ other parts were solid and heavy. The heavy naturally sunk, which he calls the earth; and the lighter parts got above them, which he calls the tvaters: for it is clearly intimated the waters were uppermost. The word we here translate moved, signifies literally brooded upon the waters, as a hen. doth upon her cg^s. So the ancient and modern interpreters have observed: and Morinus, who opposes it, hath said nothing to make us doubt of this sense of the phrase. From whence some have, not unhappily, conjectures, the ancients took their notion of a npvrdyovov *J6v, a first-laid egg, out of which all things were formed: that is, the chaos (out of which all the old philosophers, before Aristotle, thought the world was produced) consisting of earth and water, of thicker and thinner parts, as an egg doth of the yolk and white. Now the Spirit of God thus moved upon the waters, that by its incubation (as we may call it) it might not only separate, as I said, those parts which were jumbled together; but give a vivific virtue to them, to produce what was contained in them. The souls and spirits, that is, of all living creatures, were produced by the Spirit of God, as Porphyry saith Numcnius understood it. For his opinion, he tells us, was, that all things came out of the water, SioTvoy ovrt, being divinely inspired: for which he quoted these words of the prophet, as he called Moses. See Porphyry repl rovNv/x^. “Avrpou, on those words of Homer: *lepbv “Svft<paliov 9 frat Nr/ta?fc KaXeovrai. Which gives us to understand, that the spirits of all living creatures (which wc call their active forms) did not arise out of matter, for that is stupid; but proceeded from this other principle, the powerful Spirit of God, which moved upon the face of the waters, by a vital energy (as St. Chrysostom speaks), so that they were no longer standing waters, but moving, having £wm”>)v rlva Mvafttv, a certain living power in them. From whence we may also’ gather, that the spirits of living creatures are distinct things from matter, which of itself cannot move at all, and much less produce a principle of motion. And thus indeed all the ancient philosophers apprehended this matter: and some of them have most lively expressed it. For Laertius in the Life of Anaxagoras tells us, that he taught, among other things, U&vra ^p^ara $y viiov’ elra Nouc kXdiov avrd ^uK6<r)xrj(T€, all things were huddled, together: and then the Mind came and set them in order. And Thales before him (as Tully informs us, lib. i.de Nat. Deor.) " Aquam dixit esse initium rerum; Deum autem earn inentem quae ex aquacuncta fingeret,” said, Wafer was the beginning of things; and God that Mind, ivho formed all thiugs out of the water. By the Spirit of God some of the ancient Jews have understood the Spirit of the Messiah (as Hackspan observes in his Cabala Judaica, n. lxyi. out of Baal Hatturim, the Hicrusalem TaTgum, &c.) which explains the evangelist, St. John, “who in the beginning of his Gospel says, all tilings were made by the eternal AOrOS, or Word ofGod (the same with the Nouc of the ancient philosophers), whose almighty Spirit agitated the vast confused mass of matter,, and put it into form.
Genesis 1:3
And God said. Theso words are taken notice of by Longinus, vrepl tyovc, as a truly lofty expression, wherein appears tho wisdom of Moses, who represents God, like himself, commanding things into being by his word; that is, by his will: for wheresoever we read these words in the history of the creation, Ife % said, the meaning must be understood to be he willed, as Maimonides interprets it. (More Nev. p. i. cap.G5.) This Justin Martyr demonstrates Orpheus had learnt out of Moses’s books, when he stvears by the heaven, the work of the great and wise God, and
Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light, that it was good. He was pleased in this work of his, as agreeable to his design: which for the present was (we may conceive) to influence, the upper parts of the chaos, and to be the instrument of rarefaction, separation, and. all the rest of the operations, which were ncccssaiy to mould it into such creatures, as, wprc afterwards made out of it. • And God divided the light from the darkness.] Appointed that they should constantly succeed one another; as we see they do now, that this light is cmbpdied in the sun; and as they did then, by the circular motion of this first light of fire, round about the chaos, in the space of twentyfour hours: which made.it day to those parts where.it shined;. and night, where it did not. It is remarkable how Moses ascribes. every thing to God, the former of all things; who, by making this light move round about the chaos, still more prepared and exalted the remaining indigested parts of matter for their several uses.
Genesis 1:5
And God called the light day; and the darkness he called night. He settled them (that is) in such a constant course, that it gave them these distinct names. And the evening and the morning were the first day.] In the Hebrew language, evening and morning signify a whole day; which the motion of this light made, if we conceive it. to. have been formed about noon, and to have gone round the forementioned heap of matter in twenty-four, hours.’ How long all things continued in mere confusion, after the chaos was created, before this light was extracted out of it, we are not told. It might be (for any thing that is, here revealed) a great while; and all that time the mighty I Spirit was making such motions in it, as prepared, dis-, posed, and ripened every part of it, for such productions^ as were to appear successively in such spaces of time, as; are here and afterward mentioned by Moses; who informs us, that after things were so digested, and made ready (by long fermentations, perhaps,) to be wrought into form, God produced every day, for six days together, some creaturo. or other, tiil all was finished; of which light was the very, first. This Maimonides hath very happily illustrated, in, his More Nevochim, p. ii. c. 30; where, observing that all things were created at once, and then were afterwards separated one from another successively, he says, their j wise men resemble this proceeding to that of a husbandman, who sows several seeds in the earth at the same moment; some of which are to come up after one day, others after two, and others not till three days be past; though the whole sowing was in one and the same moment. Thus God made all tilings at the first, which did not appear together; but, in the space of six days, were formed and putin order one after another: light being the work of the first day. Ver. G. And God said, Let there be a firmament.] The next thing that God commanded to come forth of the chaos, was the air; particularly that region next to us, wherein the fowls fly, as it is expounded afterwards. (Ver. 20,) The Hebrew word rachia, properly signifies a body expanded, or spread forth, (as may be seen in Exod. xxxix. 3; Isai. xl. 19; Jer. x. 9; where it can have no other meaning) but it is by the LXX. translated arepew/xo, and from thence by us, firmament; because the air, though vastly extended and fluid, yet continues firm and stable in its place. In the 7nidst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.] This region of the air manifestly parts the waters above it in the clouds from those below it here upon earth; the one of which waters bears a good proportion, and is in some measure equal unto the other: for thero arc vast treasures of water in the clouds; from whence the waters here below, in springs and rivers, aro supplied. This appeared afterwards in the deluge, which was partly made by continued rains for many days. The great objection against this exposition is, that now there. My father made me swear, &c] See xlvii. 29, 30. where Jacob engaged him by an oath to carry his body into Canaan, to be buried there: that he might keep up some claim to that country, by virtue of the sepulchre, which his grandfather had there purchased; and where his father Isaac lay buried. Which I have digged for me.] In the cave that Abraham had bought, Gen. xxiii. (which was a large place) Jacob it seems had taken care to have a grave digged for himself. From which and such-like examples St. Austin argues (in. the place quoted above, on ver. 3.) the bodies of the dead, especially of good men, are to be treated with such a regard, as they themselves thought was due to them. Ver. G. According as he made thee swear.] The religion of an oath, it appears from hence, was in those days so sacred, that the king, who had not sworn himself, would not have another man violate it, for his sake: who might have pretended he could not spare Joseph so long from his business, being his chief minister in the land of Egypt, Such heathen kings as these will rise up in judgment against those Christian princes who make a jest of theiT oaths.
Genesis 1:7
And God made the firmament, and divided f &c. What his Divine will ordered, his power effected, by that light which rolled about the chaos, and that heat which was excited within it; whereby such exhalations were raised, as made the firmament: that is, the thicker parts of them made this region of the air, which is the lower firmament; (Ver. 20.) and the thinner parts of them made the ether, or higher firmament, wherein the sun and the planets arc seated. All the servants of Pharaoh.] This seems to be explained by the next words, the elders of his house; the principal officers of court. For the word all must be understood with some limitation, as usually in Scripture: some being left behind, no doubt, to wait upon the king. Thus in Matt. iii. 5. allJudea is said to have gone out to John’s baptism, /. e. a great many. • The elders of his house, Sec] I have observed before on xxiv. 2. that elder is a name of dignity: as the Jerusa-, lem Targum there expounds it; instead of his servant the elder of his house, having thesopvords, his principal servant, who was set over all the rest, as their governor. And it appears by this place that this was used not only by the Hebrews, but by the Egyptians, long before Moses’s time, as a title of honour and dignity: as it hath since been by all nations whatsoever. (Sec Mr. Selden, lib. i. do Synedr. cap. 14.) All the elders of the land of Egypt.] The principal persons in authority and dignity, throughout the whole country, as well as those of the court: such as were governors of provinces, and cities, and counsellors, &c. Which honour they did to Jacob, in all likelihood, by Pharaoh’s command: for how well soever they might stand affected to Joseph, they could not of their own accord desert their charge.
Genesis 1:8
And God called the firmament heaven. Made it so different from the rest of the mass, called earth, that it had the name of heaven, to distinguish it from the other. So all above the earth is called, as appears by the following part of the chapter, in the verses now mentioned. And that is the very import of the word schamaim, which in the Arabic language (as Aben Ezra observes) signifies height, or altitude. And the evening and the morning were the second day.] This was the work of another whole day. Concerning which it is commonly noted, that it is not said of this, as of all the works of the other five days, " God saw that it was good.” What the reason of this should be, is inquired by all interpreters; and the most solid account that I “can find of it is this: — that the waters, mentioned upon this day, were not yet separated and distinguished from the earth; and, therefore, in the next day’s work, when he did gather the waters together, (ver. 10.) and when he commanded the earth (which was become dry) to bring forth, (ver. 12.) these words, <( God. saw that it was good,” are twice repeated. Which made Picherellus and Ger. Vossius think the two next verses (9, 10.) belonged to the second day’s work; and that the first words of the ninth verse should be thus translated, " And God had said, Let the waters under the heaven,” Sec. And so the words in the end of the tenth verse, " God saw that*it was good,” Telate to the second day. Lib. ii. de Orig. Idolol. c. 67. ■ All the house of Joseph, &c] Their whole family; except such as were necessary to look after their little ones and their flocks, &c. This verse also shews the word all must have a limited sense.
Genesis 1:9
And God said, Let thetvaters under the heaven. All the waters, which continued mixed with the earth, and covered the surface of it. Be gathered together, &c] Collected into one body by themselves. And let the dry land appear.] Distinct and separate from the waters. There being sucli large portions of matter drawn out of the chaos, as made the body of fire and air beforementioned, there remained, in a great body, only water and earth; but they were so jumbled together, that they could not be distinguished. It was the work therefore of the third day to make a separation between them, by compacting together all the particles which make the earth, which before was mud and dirt; and then, by raising it above the waters, which covered its superficies (as the Psalmist also describes tliis work, Psalm civ, 6.); and, lastly, by making such caverns in it, as were sufficient to receive the waters into them. Now this w r e may conceive to have been done by such particles of fire as were left in the bowels of the earth, whereby such nitro-sulphureous vapours were kindled, as made an earthquake; which both lifted up the earth, and also made receptacles for the waters to run into; as the Psalmist (otherwise I should not venture to mention this) seems in the forcmentioned place to illustrate it, (Psalm civ. 7.) where he says, “At thy rebuke they (i.e. the waters) fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.” And so God himself speaks, (Job xxxviii. 10.) " I brake up for it (i. e. for the sea) my decreed place, and set bars and doors." Histories also tell us, of mountains that have been, in several ages, lifted up by earthquakes; nay, islands in the midst of the sea: which confirms this conjecture, that possibly the waters were, at the first, separated by this means; and so separated, that they should not return to cover the earth: for the word, in the beginning of this verse, which we translate gathered, comes from kav, which signifies a square, a rule, ox perpendicular line; and therefore denotes they were most exactly collected, and so poised in such just proportions, that they should not again overflow the dry land. This work of God (whereby the waters were sent down into their proper channels, and the earth made dry, and fitted for the habitation of such creatures as were afterwards created) is observed by Strabo in his Geography as an act of Divine Providence, (lib. xvii.) Because, says he, the water covered the earth, and man is not ivvtpov K&ov, a creature that can live in the water, God made Qoyhs *v Trj yrj TroXXac koI kvox&£> &c. many cavities and receptacles in the earth for the water; and raised the earth above it, that it might be fit for man’s habitation. And there went up ivith him both chariots and horsemen.] As a guard to him; which, it is likely, always attended him, as viceroy of the kingdom: but now might be necessary for his safety, as he passed through the deserts, in case he should meet with any opposition, when he came to challenge his burying-place. Though it is probable that matter was settled beforehand with the Canaanitcs; who were in no condition to oppose the kingdom of Egypt: which was grown very rich, and they very poor, by the late famine. • And it was a very great company.] That he might appear in greater state, at such a solemnity.
Genesis 1:10
And called the dry land, &c. This is sufficiently explained, by what has been said upon verses 5 and 8; only this may be added, that the word eretz, earth, in Arabic, signifies any thing that is low and sunk beneath, opposite to schamaim, heavens, which, in that language, as I noted before, signifies high and lifted up. And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad.’] Some take Atad for a place, and translate the word before it in the same sense, as if he had said they came to Goren- Atad. But Forsterus in his Lexicon thinks Atad w f as the proper name of a man, who was eminent in that country for his threshing: floor. Though there are those who take it for a bramble, with which that floor was fenced in: for so the word signifies, Judg. ix. 14. And the Africans called a bramble atadim (as Bochart observes, lib. ii. Canaan, cap. 15.) which is the plural number of Atad. But the Talmudists are so fanciful, that, not satisfied with such reasons, they say Jacob’s coffin was here surrounded with garlands (crowns they call them) just like a threshingfloor, which is hedged about with thorns. For the tradition, they say, is, that the sons of Esau, Ishmael, and Keturah all met here; and seeing Joseph’s crown hanging over the coffin, they all pulled off theirs, and hanged them up in the same manner. So the Excerpt. Gemaraj in Sota, cap. i. §. 45. K Beyond Jordan.] Some translate it, On this side Jordan* Both are true, with respect to several places: for it was on this side Jordan with respect to those in Canaan: hut beyond Jordan with respect to those who came unto Canaan, through the deserts; as Joseph did now, and the Israelites afterward. Why Joseph passed this way, which was very much about, and not the direct road, which was a great deal shorter, is hard to tell. Perhaps it was a better way for chariots: for it is not probable they feared any opposition from the Philistines, or Edomites; with whom the matter might have been concerted (as we now speak) beforehand.
Genesis 1:11
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding, &c. Or, rather, it should be translated, and the herb yielding, &c. though the copula be omitted, which is usual in Scripture; particularly in Habak. iii. 11, " the sun, moon," t. e. the sun and moon. Moses having shewn how the first matter, (ver. 2.) and then the elements of things, as we call them, (ver. 3. 6. 9, 10.) were produced, he proceeds to the production of more compounded bodies. And here an account is given of all sorts of vegetables, which arc ranged under three heads; grass, which comes up every year without sowing; herbs, bearing a seed, which comprehends (as Abar-" binel here notes) all sort of corn, and whatsoever is sown; and trees, which also bear fruit. * There are several kinds of all these; which some have cast into eighteen/ others into six-and-thirty classes; none of which could at the first spring out of the earth, of itself, by the power of external and internal heat, and of the water mixed with it, (no, not so much as one single pile of grass) without the almighty power and wisdom of God; who brought together those parts of matter, which were fitted to produce them; and then formed every ono of them, and determined their several species; and also provided for their continuance, by
Genesis 1:12
And the earth brought forth grass, and the herb, &c. These things did not grow up out of seed, by such a long process, as is now required to bring them to maturity; but they sprung up in their perfection, in the space of a day, with their seeds in them, completely formed, to produce the like throughout all. generations. Thus Moses gives a plain account of the first production of things, according to the natural method: for supposing they had a beginning, the herb and the tree must naturally be before the seed they bear; as the hen is before the egg she lays. And to make a question, which was first (as some of the philosophers did) is very frivolous; because that Power which alone could produce the seeds of all things, could as easily make the things themselves, with a power to propagate their kind by seed. It is therefore most judiciously noted byAbarbinel, a learned Jew, that the production of plants, in thfe beginning, differed from their production ever since in these two things: first, That they have sprung ever since out of seed, either sown by us; or falling from the plants themselves; but, at the beginning, were brought out of the earth, with their seed in them, to propagate them ever after. And, secondly, They need now, as they have done since the first creation, the influence of the sun, to make them sprout; but then they came forth by the power of God, before there was any sun, which was not formed till the next day. Of this last Theophilus Antiochenus, long before AbarbincI, took notice (lib. ii. ad Autolycum) where he says, God produced things in this order; foreseeing the vanity of philosophers, who, saying nothing of Him, made all things to be produced by the sun, inrd twv <n-otx«W, out of the elements. Porphyry himself, also, (lib. ii. ^plaxoxvc) could observe out of Theophrastus, that the earth brought forth trees and herbs before beasts, tevfya fdv yap £) vpb fyatov aviStaKey yy, &c. which Eusebius remembers in his Prop. Evang. lib. i. cap. 9. p. 28. Vcr. 14. Let there be lights.’] This is a different “word from what we had, vcr. 3; signifying, as Paulus Fagius observes, that which is made out of light; lummoits bodies, whereby light is communicated to us: the Hebrew particle, mem, before a word, being used to express the instrument of an action. And so now we are to conceive, that the light produced at first, having for three days circulated about the earth, and that near unto it, to further the production of the things beforementioned, was on this fourth day distributed into several luminaries, at a great distance from the earth. So it follows— in the firmament of heaven, in the upper region, which we call the ether, or sky, where the sun and the planets are placed. To divide the day from the night.] By a continued circular motion, finished in four-and-twenty hours; in one part of which, by the presence of the sun, the day is made: and, in the other part, by the sun’s absence, night is made, in a constant succession. And let them be for signs and for seasons.] That is, for signs of the times or seasons; as Ger. Vossius expounds it, by the figure of iv Ith Svoiv. And by times arc meant, the spring, summer, autumn, and winter; and, by consequence, the seasons for ploughing, sowing, planting, pruning, reaping, vintage, sailing, &c— L. dc Scientiis Mathemat. cap. 38. And for days, and years.] By a speedy swift motion round, in twenty-four hours, to make days; and by a slower, longer motion, to make years; and a grateful variety of seasons, in the several parts of tho earth) which by this annual motion are all visited by the sun’s beams.
Genesis 1:15
And let them be for light, &c. i. e. Let them there continue to give constant light and warmth to the earth: and so they do immoveably. “Ver. 16. And God made two great lights.] It is observable that nothing is said to have been created, since the first matter, out of which all things were made or formed. And the two great lights, or luminaries, enlighteners (as the word signifies), are the sun, which enlightens by day; and the moon, which enlightens us by night. The moon, indeed, is hot so great as the rest of the planets (for it is the least of all, except Mercury), but it affords the greatest light to us, by reflecting the beams of the sun to us in its absence; and thereby very much abating the disconsolate darkness of the night. •* He made the stars also.] That is, the rest of the planets, and their attendants.
Genesis 1:17
And God set them in the firmament of heaven, &c. By the repetition of this so often, Moses intended to fix in the people’s mind this notion — that though the heavenly bodies be very glorious, yet they are’ but creatures, made by God, and set or appointed by his order to give us light; and, therefore, He alone is to be worshipped, not they. It is commonly taken notice of, that there is no mention of the creation of angels in, all this history; nor was there any need of it.’ For the ancient idolatry, consisting in the worship of the sun, moon, and stars (as appears from the very names of the* most ancient idols in the Old Testament, such as Moloch, Ashtaroth, and the like), which they believed to be eternal beings, the great design of Moses was to confute this opinion, by representing them over and over as the work of the eternal God, which struck at the very root of idolatry. The worship of angels was a later invention. Vcr. 18. And to ride over the day, and over the night.] Some have fancied that the ancient idolatry sprung from this word rule; men looking upon these glorious lights as having a dominion over them. Whence the sun was called Baal, that is, lord or governor, by the eastern people; and Moloch, that is, king, by the Egyptians. But one word sure was not the ground of so foul an error, when the scope of Moses was to shew, that these things were made by a higher Being, and made not to rule over men, but over the day and the night, which the sun makes when it rises and, sets, by the order and appointment of God. And God saw that it was good.] He was pleased with this work, as suitable to the ends for which he intended it. The first light was good (ver. 4.) for the purpose to which it served; which was, by its heat, to agitate, rarefy, and separate the matter of the chaos, for the making of air, and gathering together the waters, and drying tho earth, and producing grass, herbs, and trees, which made it necessary it should continue some days near to the earth, that it might powerfully penetrate into tho matter it was to digest; but, if it should have continued longer so near to
Genesis 1:19
And the evening, &c. Thus the fourth day concluded..
Genesis 1:20
And God said, Let the waters, &e. Now God proceeded to form the lower sort of animals, or living crea-: tures, viz. the fish, and the fowl, which are in many respects inferior to beasts. And the fishes are called moving (in the Hebrew, creeping) creatures; because their bellies touch the water, as creeping things do the earth. Both fishes and fowls were made out of the waters; that is, out of such matter as was mixed with the waters, which contained in them many things besides simple water; for the sea and rivers are still very richly furnished with various compounds, for the nourishment of an innumerable multitude of fishes. The great congruity that there is between fish and fowl, in many particulars, will not let us doubt they had the same original: for they are both oviparous, which makes them more fruitful than the beasts of the earth; neither of them have any. teats: they both direct (and, as I may say, steer) their course by their tail, &c. See Ger. Vossius deOrig.etProgr.Idolol. lib. Hi. cap. 78. Bring forth abundantly.] That is, various sorts of both kinds, there being many hundred kinds of fishes, and birds, or fowls; many of the latter of which live in the water (which shews their original to have been from thence), and others of them live both in the air and water. The formation of these creatures is, in every part of them, very wonderful, especially in those parts whereby they are fitted to swim, and to fly. Which demonstrate a most wise Agent,, by whose infinite power they were so contrived, as to be able also to propagate their kind.
Genesis 1:21
And God created great ivhales. The vastness of. these creatures, perhaps, made Moses again use the word create (which he had not done since the beginning of the chapter); not because they were made as the chaos was, out of nothing; but because it required a greater power to make out of the precedent matter moving things of so huge a bulk, and of such great agility, than to make any other thing hitherto formed. The Hebrew word tanim, which we translate whales, comprehends several sorts of great fishes, as Bocharius observes inhisllierozoic. p.i. lib. i. cap. 7. where he shews the prodigious bigness of some of them. But he should have added, that this word also signifies crocodiles, which he himself shews are set forth in Job xli. as the most astonishing work of God. For Job Ijudolphus, I think, liath demonstrated, that nothing but the crocodile can be meant by this word tanim, in Ezek, xxix. 3. and xxxii. 2. and some other places. Vid. lib. i. Comment, in Ilistor. Ethiop. cap. xi. n. §(>. And God saw that it ivas good.] Was pleased with the structure of these several creatures: of the birds, who were furnished with wings to fly in the air; and of the fishes, whose fins serve them to swim in the water; and of water-fowl, whose feet are formed so, as to serve for the same use; and some of them (such as dive under water), covered so thick with feathers, and those so smooth and slippery (as the learned and pious Mr. Hay hath observed), that their bodies are thereby defended from the cold of the water, which cannot penetrate or moisten them. See Wisdom of God in the Creation, pt.i. p. 135.
Genesis 1:22
And God blessed them, &c. His blessing them, was giving them a power to multiply and increase, till they, had filled the water with fish, and the air with fowl, which required a particular care of Divine Providence, as Abarbinel observes: because they do not bring forth young ones perfectly formed, as the beasts do, but lay their eggs in which they are formed, when they are out of their bodies. This, saith he, is a wonderful thing, that when the womb, as we may call it, is separate from the genitor, a living creature like itself should be produced, which is the reason, he fancies, that a blessing is here pronounced upon them, and not on the beasts, that were made the next day. The ancient fathers are wont to observe, that the first blessing was given to the waters, as a type of baptism. Theophilus ad Autolyc. lib. ii. and Tertullian. de Baptismo, cap. 3. And let fowl midtiply in the earth.] There, for the most part, they have their habitation and their food; though some live upon the water.
Genesis 1:24
And Godsaid, Let the earth bring forth. Thus, by a gradual process, the Divine Power produced creatures still more noble: the matter being more digested and prepared in five days time than it was at first. I do not know whether there be any weight in the note of Abarbinel, who observes that Moses here uses a new word, which we translate bring forth, to shew the difference between plants and animals. The former of which spring out of the earth indeed, but continue fixed in it, and perish if they be separated from it: whereas animals, though made out of the earth, and living upon it, have a separate existence, and do not still adhere to it. After his kind.] Three sorts of living creatures are immediately mentioned, which were formed out of such matter as the earth afforded (not simple earth, we must understand, no more than before simple water; for it was impregnated with many other principles); the first of which, behemah, which we translate cattle, always signifies the* flocks and herds of tame beasts, when it is distinguished from chaja, which we translate, in the end of the verse, beasts of the earth, that is, wild beasts: between which two, he mentions a third kind of living creatures on tho earth, which he calls remesh — creeping things; because, whatever feet they have, they arc so short and small, that they seem to the naked eye to have none at all; but to crawl on their bellies upon the ground. Of all these three kinds thero aro various sorts wherewith God hath replenished the earth: and of every kind, some vastly great, and others - very little; as Abarbinel notes even among
Genesis 1:25
And God made, &c. The earth did not bring them forth, by virtue of the influence of heaven upon prepared matter: but God framed them out of the matter so prepared, and produced them* in their full perfection after their several kinds.’ And God saw it was good.] AVas pleased with the great variety of these creatures, and their complete structure, fitting them for their several uses. Ver. 2G. Let us make man.] God not only reserved man for the last of his works; but doth, as it were, advise and consult about Ids production. Not to signify any deliberation within himself, or any difficulty in the work; but to represent to us the dignity of man, and that he was made (as Abarbinel glosses) with admirable wisdom and great prudence. To the same purpose St. Chrysostom here speaks. And see Greg. Nyssen. de Opificio Hominis, cap. 3. and Orat.i. on these words; with Greg. Nazianzen. Orat. xliii.p. GD9; who observes, that God brought him into this world, as into a noble palace, ready furnished with all manner of things; which is the notion also of Methodius: see Epiphanius Hseres. lxiv. n. 18. It is to be observed also, that God doth not say, “Let the earth bring forth man,” as he saith before (ver. 24.) of. other animals; for the same reason: to represent man as a far more noble work, than any other upon earth: “for though he was made (as we read in the next chapter) of the dust of the ground; yet a* greater power and skill was employed in producing a creature of such* beauty and majesty. Let vs.] The ancient Christian looked upon this* as a plain intimation of a plurality of persons in the Godhead: insomuch, that Epiphanius says, “This is the language of God to his Word and only Begotten, as all the faithful believe.” Sec Hoeres. xxiii. n. 2; and xliv. n. 4; and xlvi. n. 3, where he says, Adam was 7r£7rW^eVoc Iv x«p« Uarpoc tc’atviov, Koiaylov Tryevparoi:, formed by the hand of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. To which one cannot but incline, who considers how’ poorly the Jews expound this place: who fancy a kind of senate or council of angels, without whom God doth nothing; (which they ground upon Dan. iv. 14.) whereas, there is not the least signification as yet of any such beings; much less, that they had any hand in the making man, who was not made in their image, but in the image of G.od. Yet thus Saturnilus foolishly expounded these w T 6rds, as Epiphanius informs us, in the forenamed Hacres. p. 62. Edit. Paris. And Moses Gerundensis still more foolishly imagines God spake to the earth, that it should bring forth man, as it had done other creatures: but Maimonides, who magnifies that saying of their masters (that God doth nothing without his council), “is forced to acknowledge, (More Nevoch. p.* ii. cap. G.) that it is not to be understood, as if he asked their advice, cir was assisted by their judgment, but only that he used them as instruments in the producing of every thing, which is directly contrary to the very words, which are not in the form of a command, but of a consultation before execution. Others therefore think God speaks after the manner of kings,’ who advise with their council, but do things themselves; and arc wont to speak in the plural number, when they declare their pleasure; But I take this’-to be a custom much later than the days of Moses, when they spake as* the King of Egypt doth to Joseph: (Gen. xli. 41. 44.) e< I am Pharaoh, and see I have set thee (not we have set thee) over the land of Egypt.” In which style the King of Persia writes long after this: (Ezra vi. 8.) " I Darius make a decree.” All these poor shifts are a plain confession, that they found it very hard (as the Socinians do at this day) to give any account of this way of speaking, without granting a plurality of persons in the Godhead. And therefore Menasseh Ben Israel, in his Conciliator, mentions one of their doctors, who, inBereschith Rabba, says, that when Moses by God’s direction was about to write these words,” Let us make man,” he cried out," OLordofthe world, why wilt thou give men occasion, to err about thy most simple unity?" To which he received this answer, " Write as I bid thee; and if any man love to err, let him err." The same story is told by Joseph Albo; which shews, that their doctors have been long puzzled with this manner of speech, which unavoidably suggested to their thoughts more than one person in the Deity: which, till they believe, they are at a loss what to say about it. Inour image, after our likeness.] Two words (some think) to express the same thing: with this difference only, as Abarbinel explains it, that the last words, after our likeness, give us to understand that man was not created properly and perfectly in the image of God; but in a resemblance of him. For he doth not say, in our likeness (says that author) as he had said in our image, but after our likeness: where the caph of similitude (as they call it) abates something of the sense of what follows; and makes’ it signify only an approach to the Divine likeness, in understanding, freedom of choice, spirituality, immortality, &c. Thus Tertullian explains it, " Habent illas ubique lineas Dei, qua immortalis anima, qua libera et sui arbitrii, qua pracscia plerumque, qua rationalis, capax intellectuset scientiac." Lib. ii. contraMarcion. cap. 9. And so Grcgor. Nyssen. cap. 1G. De Opine. Horn, name rov 2iavoti<r$ai <al <xpofiov\zvuv Ivvaiity expvatv, &c. All have a power of considering and designing, of consulting and fore-appointing, what we intend to do. Purity and holiness likewise seem to be comprehended. in this: as may be gathered from the apostle: (Coloss. iii. 10.) “For the new man consists in righteousness and true holiness.” (Eph. iv. 24.) But though be was created with a faculty to judge aright, and with a power, to govern “his appetite, which lie could control more easily than we can do now; yet he was not made immediately good (quia hoc soli Deo cedit, -which belongs to God alone, as Tertullian excellently discourses in that place) but might, without due care, be induced to do evil, as we see he did.. For an habituated, confirmed estate of goodness, was even then to have been acquired by watchfulness and exercise: whereby, in process of time, he might have become so steadfast, that he could not have been prevailed upon, by any temptation, to do contrary to his duty. And let them have dominion, &c] Some have thought the image of God consisted in this alone. (See Greg. Nyssen. cap. 4. De Opific. Horn. p. 143.) Which rather follows upon man’s being made in God’s image, viz. an intelligent, being; which gave him dominion over other things, that are not endued with such understanding. I conclude this note with a very pertinent observation of his