Genesis 1

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:16

And God made two great lights . Perhaps no part of the material universe more irresistibly demands a supreme Intelligence as its only proper origin and cause. "Elegantissima haecce solis, planetarum et cometarum compages non nisi consilio et domino entis intelligentis et potentis oriri potuit". The greater light to rule (literally, to make like; hence to judge; then to rule. Mashal ; cf. βασιλευ ì ω —Gesenius ) the day, and the lesser light to rule the night . The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:16

The celestial luminaries. I. Display the DIVINE WISDOM . "The heavens declare the glory of God" ( Psalms 19:1 ). M . Comte believed they declared no other glory than that of Hipparchus, Kepler, Newton, and their successors. Newton agreed with the Hebrew poet ( vid . Expos. on Genesis 1:16 ). The astronomical argument in behalf of theism has always been impressive, if not absolutely conclusive. Certainly, granting the Divine existence, nowhere does God's glory shine out more... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:17-18

And God set (literally, gave) them (i.e. sun, moon, and stars) in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and ever the night, and to divide the light from the darkness . An intimation that on this day the astronomical arrangements for the illumination of the globe and the measurement of time were permanently settled. And God saw that it was good . Laplace was inclined to question the Divine verdict with regard at least to the moon, which he... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:19

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day . The Scripture references to this day's work are both numerous and instructive. The Hebrew writers supply no information as to the astronomical theories which were prevalent in their time; yet "from other sources we have facts leading to the belief that even in the time of Moses there was not a little practical astronomy in the East, and some good theory. The Chaldeans at a very early period had ascertained the principal circles of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:20

Day five. The waters and the air, separated on the second day, are on this filled with their respective inhabitants. And God said. Nature never makes an onward movement, in the sense of an absolutely new departure, unless under the impulse of the word of Elohim. These words distinctly claim that the creatures of the sea and of the air, even if evolved from material elements, were produced in obedience to Divine command, and not spontaneously generated by the potentia vitae of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:20-22

The mystery of life. I. ITS ORIGIN . 1. Not dead matter . Scripture, equally with science, represents life as having a physical basis; but, unlike modern evolutionists, never confounds vital force with the material mechanism in which it resides, and through which it operates. Advanced biologists account for life by molecular arrangement, chemical combination, spontaneous generation, or some such equally insufficient hypothesis. The rigorous necessities of truth and logic,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:20-23

The fifth day. I. LIVE UNDER THE BLESSING OF GOD . 1. Abundance . Swarming waters, swarming air? preparing for the swarming earth. "Be fruitful, and multiply." The absence of all restraint because as yet the absence of sin. God's law is liberty. The law of life is the primary law. If there be in man's world a contradiction between the multiplication of life and the happiness of life, it is a sign of departure from the original order. 2. Growth , improvement,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:21

And God created ( bara , is in Genesis 1:1 , to indicate the introduction of an absolutely new thing, viz; the principle of animal life) great whales . Tanninim , from tanan ; Greek, τει ì νω ; Latin, tendo ; Sansc; tan , to stretch. These were the first of the two classes into which the sheretzim of the previous verse were divided. The word is used of serpents ( Exodus 7:9 ; Deuteronomy 32:33 ; Psalms 91:13 ; Jeremiah 51:34 ), of the crocodile ( ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:21

Day six . Like day three, this is distinguished by a double creative act, the production of the higher or land animals and the creation of man, of the latter of which it is perhaps permissible to see a mute prediction in the vegetation which closed the first half of the creative week. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind . In these words the land animals are generically characterized as nephesh chayyah , or animated beings; in the terms... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:23

And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. If of the previous creative days geological science has only doubtful traces, of this it bears irrefragable witness. When the first animal life was Introduced upon our globe may be said to be as yet sub judice . Principal Dawson inclines to claim for the gigantic foraminifer, eozoon canadense , of the Laurentian rocks, the honor of being one of the first aquatic creatures that swarmed in terrestrial waters, though Professor Huxley... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:16

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:16

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:17-18

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:19

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:20

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:20-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:20-23

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:21

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:21

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 1:23

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