CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Genesis illustrates “The Book of beginnings.” The chapter raises three questions: When did God create? — verse 1; How? — verses 2–3; Why? — Isaiah 45:18 and Revelation 4:11.
God brings order out of chaos. The physical ordering of the earth is treated as a pattern of the moral regeneration of man by the Gospel. Creation is presented as an act of wisdom, carried out for Yahweh’s glory and purpose, demonstrating His power to save and providing cause for the Elohim to rejoice.
The opening also places Genesis within a Pentateuch pattern: Genesis — ruin and divine selection; Exodus — deliverance; Leviticus — fellowship with God; Numbers — divine guidance; Deuteronomy — attainment of hope. A parallel list emphasises divine authority and power, mercy, holiness, goodness and severity, and faithfulness.
A broad Genesis outline is given as: Creation; Sin and Death; Covenants of Promise; Nations; Call of Abraham; Israel; Twelve Tribes. Genesis is also set beside Revelation: what begins in Genesis reaches its consummation in Revelation — Paradise closed and reopened, curse imposed and removed, access to the tree denied and restored, sorrow and death replaced, and the natural creation giving way to the new creation.
Genesis 1:1 — “In the beginning God created...”
The Hebrew expression is noted as bara Elohim — “mighty ones he created.” Consider the grammatical feature that Elohim is plural in form while the verb is singular, drawing attention to divine manifestation through a plurality of agents under one directing power.
Elohim can be connected with oath or covenantal binding and divine manifestation.
Psalm 90:2 connects the formation of the earth with God’s everlasting existence: He is God from everlasting to everlasting.
Genesis 1:2 — “And the earth was without form, and void...”
The Hebrew verb is hayah, which can carry the sense “to be,” “to become,” or “to come to pass.” This helps to stress a transition into the disordered condition described in the verse.
The related expression “moved” is rachaph, with the sense “brooded.” This presents the Spirit of God as active over the waters before the ordering work proceeds.
Genesis 1:3 — “And God said, Let there be light...”
God’s word is effective: He speaks and the required result follows. Divine speech and action can be connected with the work of the Elohim.
Genesis 1:4 — “God divided the light from the darkness”
The separation of light from darkness is treated as an essential part of the movement from chaos to order, and therefore as suggestive of the moral separation produced by divine truth.
Genesis 1:5 — “the first day”
The first day can be understood as twenty-four hours, citing Exodus 31:17, where the six days of divine work and the seventh-day rest are explicitly recalled.
Genesis 1:6 — “Let there be a firmament...”
The Hebrew raqia describes something spread out or extended. The passage continues the theme of the earth being brought into an ordered condition from a previously covered and disordered state.
Genesis 1:7 — “God made the firmament, and divided the waters...”
The passage again stresses the distinction between a condition and a transition into a condition, consistent with the use of hayah in the preceding notes.
Genesis 1:8 — “God called the firmament Heaven”
Hashshamayim, a plural form translated “heaven,” can be connected with height—“to be high.”
Genesis 1:9 — “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together...”
The gathering of the waters and the appearance of dry land mark the next stage in the ordering of creation.
Genesis 1:10 — “God called the dry land Earth... the waters called he Seas”
God names the dry land Earth and the gathered waters Seas.
Genesis 1:11 — “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb...”
The Hebrew vocabulary distinguishes several kinds of vegetation:
deshe — verdure in its first state of sprouting;
Eseb — a higher order of plants propagated by seed; this distinction follows Kitto’s terminology.
Genesis 1:12
The earth brings forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and trees bearing fruit, each after its kind. God sees that it is good.
Genesis 1:13 — “the third day”
The verse closes the third-day section.
Genesis 1:14 — “Let there be lights in the firmament...”
And covers verses 14–19. The darkness of the primeval state had been partially controlled on the first day, while clouds associated with the earlier stages still shrouded the earth. These were now dispersed so that the earth came under the direct rays or influence of the sun and moon.
Genesis 1:15 — “lights in the firmament... to give light upon the earth”
The lights are light-bearers or luminaries, distinct from the first appearance of light itself.
Genesis 1:16 — “God made two great lights”
Asah has the broad sense of doing or making and can, in context, convey appointment. The luminaries are light-bearers, distinct from the light itself; compare the lights of the sanctuary.
Genesis 1:17 — “God set them in the firmament...”
The lights are placed in the firmament to give light upon the earth.
Genesis 1:18 — “to rule over the day and over the night...”
“Rule” and the division of light from darkness are emphasised. The heavenly lights can be connected with overcoming darkness, bringing forth flowers and seasonal fruit, suggesting spiritual significance in these natural processes, and governing the ebb and flow of the sea.
Genesis 1:19 — “the fourth day”
The evening and the morning complete the fourth day.
Genesis 1:20 — “Let the waters bring forth abundantly...”
And covers verses 20–23. The Hebrew expression gives the force “Let the waters swarm” — that is, teem with living creatures. The passage presents here a distinction between plant life and animal life.
Genesis 1:21 — “God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth...”
The verse continues the emphasis on abundant animal life and reproduction “after their kind.”
Genesis 1:22 — “Be fruitful, and multiply...”
The blessing and command to multiply illustrate the culmination of the fish-and-fowl section.
Genesis 1:23 — “the fifth day”
The fifth day is complete. Verses 24–27 turn to land animals and mankind.
Genesis 1:24 — “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind...”
The Hebrew terms distinguish different forms of animal life:
behemah — cattle; domestic or gregarious animals;
remes — creeping things; reptiles;
chaytho — beasts; wild beasts.
Genesis 1:25 — “God made the beast of the earth...”
Consider asah — “to do or make in the widest sense,” and therefore capable in context of carrying the idea “to appoint.”
Genesis 1:26 — “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...”
In “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” the plural “us / our” refers to the angels. Mankind receives dominion over the earthly creation.
Image conveys shape or form, while likeness conveys capacity. Compare Genesis 5:1–3. The Hebrew demuth ("likeness") invites consideration of representation through character, capacity, authority and position, as well as outward form.
The spiritual significance is that mankind was made in the divine image and intended to manifest a corresponding Godlike character; the Fall frustrated that purpose in the flesh, requiring the formation of the “new man.” Christ is presented as the one who fully manifested the divine character by conquering the flesh.
Beside “have dominion,” the purpose was projected but not yet fully accomplished, citing Psalm 8:6 and Hebrews 2:8.
Genesis 1:27 — “male and female created he them”
Christ quoted this creation statement to establish the sanctity of marriage. The precise Gospel references are Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6.
The image of God directs attention to the believer’s transformation into the image of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:10; Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15). Adam possessed the mental capacity to receive spiritual ideas, while remaining mortal rather than inherently immortal.
Genesis 1:28 — “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it...”
The Hebrew maleh means “to fill.” Genesis 9:1 repeats this command to Noah; mankind is also commanded to subdue the earth and exercise dominion.
Dominion is later confirmed to Noah, citing Genesis 9:2. Psalm 8 helps to place man’s intended dominion in perspective before God.
Genesis 1:29 — “I have given you every herb bearing seed...”
Creation displays harmony and provision for the welfare of living creatures. The original food provided for animals was vegetation. Animals now adapted to eating flesh may therefore have undergone subsequent changes.
Genesis 1:30 — “to every beast... every green herb for meat”
The verse forms part of the same summary and supports the note that animal life was originally sustained on vegetation.
Genesis 1:31 — “behold, it was very good”
Consider me’od with the force “superlatively good.” Man and woman, in the image and likeness of Elohim, exercising dominion over the lower creation and living in harmony with one another, are presented as a foreshadowing of the divine purpose. Revelation 19:7–9.
PRINCIPAL THEMES
Order out of chaos. The physical ordering of the earth is used as a pattern for moral regeneration by the Gospel.
Divine purpose in creation. Creation is purposeful, wise, for Yahweh’s glory, and connected with His power to save.
Creation by stages. Light and darkness, firmament, land and sea, vegetation, luminaries, animal life, then mankind.
Image and likeness. Mankind is made for a God-related form and capacity; Christ is the complete manifestation of the divine image and the pattern for the new man.
Dominion. Granted in purpose to man, not yet fully realised, and later reaffirmed to Noah.
Marriage. Male and female form the climax of the creation account; Christ used the passage in teaching the sanctity of marriage.
Original harmony. Verses 29–31 present an ordered creation with vegetation provided for human and animal life.
Genesis and Revelation. Genesis opens the divine purpose that Revelation brings to consummation.
Comments