Daily Scripture Reading Genesis 1:1-25
There is a debate over whether the days of creation were literal 24 hour days, or much longer periods of time. This has implications regarding whether the earth is only 6,000 years old or perhaps millions of years old. This should not be a debate. The grammar which was used to describe creation gives us a clear answer to this question.
Today, we will begin reading the book of Genesis. This passage begins a three year project to read through the Old Testament.
Gen. 1:1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The word “heavens” is a translation of the Hebrew word “shamayim”. Sometimes shamayim refers to outer space where the stars are stationed (see Gen. 1:14-15). Other times the word “shamayim” is translated as “sky” and indicates the atmosphere where birds fly (see Gen 1:26). The word “shamayim” can also denote the location of God’s dwelling place (see 1Kings 8:30). In other words, anything that is above the surface of the earth is known as the shamayim.
In the very beginning, God created the universe and one object in the universe known as planet earth.
The Hebrew verb that is translated “created” is in the perfect form. That means it was a completed action.
Gen. 1:2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
There are three words that describe what the earth was like at the moment it was created. It was formless, void, and dark.
The earth was formless because it did not have the continents and land features we see today. We will see in verse 6 that the earth was initially covered with water. Water does not have form. Ice has form, but the earth was initially covered with oceans of formless, moving water.
The earth was void because there were no plants, animals, sea creatures, birds, insects, bacteria, other living things, or inanimate objects.
The earth was dark because the sun did not exist yet.
There are two broad beliefs regarding creation known as old earth and new earth. New earth says the earth was created about 6,000 years ago and is based on the fact that when you add up the genealogical numbers in the Bible, the Bible tells us the earth is about 6,000 years old. Old earth claims the phrase “formless and void” is a reference to a long period of chaos which allows for the earth to be millions of years old.
“Formless and void” does not refer to chaos, nor does it refer to a period of time. “Formless and void” describes what the earth was like at the moment God created it. The rest of chapter one explains how God lighted the earth, gave form to it, and filled it with living creatures.
The term “formless and void” does not allow for a long period of time between the first verse of the Bible and the rest of chapter one.
Gen. 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
The Hebrew verb that is translated “said” is a Waw Consecutive verb. When a Waw Consecutive verb follows a perfect verb, it means the actions happened in sequential order. In other words, the action of the Waw Consecutive verb in verse 3 followed the action of the perfect verb in verse 1.
The verb was is also a Waw Consecutive verb.
At this point in time, God created a single star which gave light, meaning the earth was no longer dark.
Gen. 1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
The verbs “saw” and “separated” are also Waw Consecutive verbs. The actions listed in verse 4 followed the actions listed in verse 3.
The side of the earth that faced toward the star was lighted while the side of the earth that faced away from the star was dark.
Gen. 1:5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
The word “evening” is a sunset. The word “morning” is a sunrise. The Hebrew verbs that are translated “was” are Waw Consecutive verbs. This means the actions listed in verse 5 followed the actions listed in verse 4. In other words, the Bible is telling us God created the heavens and the earth, then He created light, then He separated light and dark, then he named light and dark, then there was a sunset, and then there was a sunrise. A series of events followed by a sunset, followed by a sunrise, is a description of a 24 hour day.
Most of the verbs in chapter one are Waw Consecutive verbs. The verbs preceding the words “evening” and “morning” are always Waw Consecutive verbs. This means chapter one is listing a series of events which happened in sequential order. Since there is a series of sunsets and sunrises included in the sequential order, the Bible is clearly telling us that the days of creation were 24 hour days.
Gen. 1:6 ¶ Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
When God first created the earth, it was covered with a layer of water. On day two, God separated the water so that there was still a layer of water covering the earth, but there was also an atmosphere surrounding the ocean and a layer of water surrounding the atmosphere. In other words, there was a layer of water up where we see clouds.
Gen. 1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
The word “expanse” refers to the atmosphere.
Gen. 1:8 And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
Gen. 1:9 ¶ Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
On day three, God created dry land which gave form to the earth.
Gen. 1:10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
Gen. 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:12 And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
Next, God began filling the earth with vegetation.
Gen. 1:13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Gen. 1:14 ¶ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;
Gen. 1:15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:16 So God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and also the stars.
On day one, God created a single source of light. On day four, He broke that single source of light into all the stars we see today. He also created the moon and planets.
Some astronomers have observed that all the stars are moving away from a single point in the universe. They claim this movement proves there was a big bang that started the universe. However, this movement away from a single point confirms what God did on day four, when He took the single source of light and scattered it all over the universe to create all the host of heaven.
Gen. 1:17 And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
Gen. 1:18 and to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
Gen. 1:19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Gen. 1:20 ¶ Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heavens.”
Gen. 1:21 And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Notice the phrase “after their kind”. When God created living things and gave them the ability to reproduce, He created boundaries. Birds can reproduce with other birds, but birds cannot reproduce with dogs and cats. Dogs can reproduce with dogs, and cats can reproduce with cats, but dogs cannot reproduce with cats.
Gen. 1:22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
Gen. 1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Gen. 1:24 ¶ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
On day one of creation, the earth had no form and it was empty. By day five, the earth had dry land, which means it had form, and it was no longer empty because it was filled with plants, animals, birds, and sea creatures.
There is a debate over whether the days of creation were literal 24 hour days, or much longer periods of time. This should not be a debate. The grammar which was used to describe the days of creation make it clear the days of creation were literal 24 hour days.
Does your church believe the days of creation were literal 24 hour days?
How should the grammar of Genesis 1 change your understanding of the days of creation?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”