Genesis 1:6-8

THE SECOND DAY

"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day."

The creation of the earth's atmosphere was God's work on the second day of creation. Jamieson pointed out that the term "firmament" carries the meaning of "an expanse ... the beating out as of a plate of metal,"[5] suggesting the utility of a shield, an apt figure indeed when it is recalled that the earth would long ago have been destroyed by showers of meteorites (as upon the moon) had it not been for the protection of our atmosphere.

"Divide the waters from the waters ..." Water exists upon earth in both liquid and vapor forms, and it is precisely the atmosphere which separates these. Again from Jamieson:

"By the creation of an atmosphere, the lighter parts of the waters which overspread the earth's surface were drawn up and suspended in the visible heavens, while the larger and heavier mass remained below. The air was thus `in the midst of the waters.'"[6]

Men should marvel indeed at this creation, when it is remembered that millions and billions of tons of water are constantly suspended in the atmosphere in the form of clouds; and of course being much heavier than the atmosphere, only an act of creation could have accomplished such a thing. The patriarch Job marveled at this wonder:

"Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds,The wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?" - Job 37:16

Some have considered it strange that such an expression as, "divide the waters from the waters" should have been used here, but, as it must be true in countless other instances, God was limited in His communication with mankind, not by any limitation within Himself, but by the limitations within man. In the days when this revelation was given, "The Hebrew had no word for gas (vapors)."[7] Therefore, God said, "Divide the waters (liquid) from the waters (gaseous)."

"And God called the firmament Heaven ..." This is the lower heaven of the earth's atmosphere. See under Genesis 1:1.