Genesis 1: 13 Commentary

Earth Wind & Fire:
Verses 1:9-13 combined: “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
We now have the four elements. Earth created on day three, wind/sky created on day two, fire/light created on day one, and water. Water, as we know it, was probably created on day two along with the sky, however, it was not called the seas until day three.
The conditions for life are now in place, and so we see plants created in verse 12. It seems that plant life is not on par with animals, but instead treated as part of the earth. Also, the plants may not have been sprouting until day six according to Chapter 2 verse 5. Two questions that science can’t answer: Where did matter come from? How did life come from dead matter? The Big Bang Theory tries to explain how the universe got where it is, but it doesn’t explain where everything was before the bang. Evolution tries to explain the origin of species, but it doesn’t explain how life started.
Finally, it would be a mistake to worship the four elements just because they are necessary for life. Fire is a good symbol for God, wind for the Holy Spirit, and water and earth (bread) for the Son. But never confuse symbol with substance. We usually think of this as an obsolete problem. Something the ancient Egyptians did a long time ago. However, there are modern people in America who worship Mother Earth. It could be argued that scientists like Dr. Dawkins worship matter because they can’t prove a spiritual realm. God, alone, is Creator and Sustainer.

By Terik Q (wrote 65 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 2/17/2009 01:25 am