Genesis 1: 4 Commentary

I have always wondered about the phrase “And God saw that it was good”, which he keeps repeating. As God, wouldn’t he know it was good before he made it? It seems like God was merely experimenting and he just happened to luck out each time!

By Charles (wrote 1421 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 10/20/2011 02:13 am

Hooray for Matthew Henry. Every Bible CD has him. What does today’s Matthew Henry really think of this? Is it a Jewish story or is it based on other ancient stories? Or is it a fact of science?

By James Richter (wrote 536 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 4/2/2011 15:02 pm

You are supposed to publish your own commentary on the text. Most everyone owns Mathew Henry.

By Roland G (wrote 1411 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 3/29/2011 15:05 pm

We have here [the Verses 3,4&5] a further account of the first day’s work, in which observe, 1. That the first of all visible beings which God created was light; not that by it he himself might see to work (for the darkness and light are both alike to him), but that by it we might see his works and his glory in them, and might work our works while it is day. The works of Satan and his servants are works of darkness; but he that doeth truth, and doeth good, cometh to the light, and coveteth it, that his deeds may be made manifest, John iii. 21. Light is the great beauty and blessing of the universe. Like the first-born, it does, of all visible beings, most resemble its great Parent in purity and power, brightness and beneficence; it is of great affinity with a spirit, and is next to it; though by it we see other things, and are sure that it is, yet we know not its nature, nor can describe what it is, or by what way the light is parted, Job xxxviii. 19, 24. By the sight of it let us be led to, and assisted in, the believing contemplation of him who is light, infinite and eternal light (1 John i. 5), and the Father of lights (Jam. i. 17), and who dwells in inaccessible light, 1 Tim. vi. 16. In the new creation, the first thing wrought in the soul is light: the blessed Spirit captives the will and affections by enlightening the understanding, so coming into the heart by the door, like the good shepherd whose own the sheep are, while sin and Satan, like thieves and robbers, climb up some other way. Those that by sin were darkness by grace become light in the world. 2. That the light was made by the word of God’s power. He said, Let there be light; he willed and appointed it, and it was done immediately: there was light, such a copy as exactly answered the original idea in the Eternal Mind. O the power of the word of God! He spoke, and it was done, done really, effectually, and for perpetuity, not in show only, and to serve a present turn, for he commanded, and it stood fast: with him it was dictum, factum—a word, and a world. The world of God (that is, his will and the good pleasure of it) is quick and powerful. Christ is the Word, the essential eternal Word, and by him the light was produced, for in him was light, and he is the true light, the light of the world, John i. 9; ix. 5.. The divine light which shines in sanctified souls is wrought by the power of God, the power of his word and of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, opening the understanding, scattering the mists of ignorance and mistake, and giving the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, as at first, God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, 2 Cor. iv. 6. Darkness would have been perpetually upon the face of fallen man if the Son of God had not come, and given us an understanding, 1 John v. 20. 3. That the light which God willed, when it was produced, he approved of: God saw the light that it was good. It was exactly as he designed it, and it was fit to answer the end for which he designed it. It was useful and profitable; the world, which now is a palace, would have been a dungeon without it. It was amiable and pleasant. Truly the light is sweet (Eccl. xi. 7); it rejoiceth the heart, Prov. xv. 30. What God commands he will approve and graciously accept; he will be well pleased with the work of his own hands. That is good indeed which is so in the sight of God, for he sees not as man sees. If the light is good, how good is he that is the fountain of light, from whom we receive it, and to whom we owe all praise for it and all the services we do by it! 4. That God divided the light from the darkness, so put them asunder as that they could never be joined together, or reconciled; for what fellowship has light with darkness? 2 Cor. vi. 14. And yet he divided time between them, the day for light and the night for darkness, in a constant and regular succession to each other. Though the darkness was now scattered by the light, yet it was not condemned to a perpetual banishment, but takes its turn with the light, and has its place, because it has its use; for, as the light of the morning befriends the business of the day, so the shadows of the evening befriend the repose of the night, and draw the curtains about us, that we may sleep the better. See Job vii. 2. God has thus divided time between light and darkness, because he would daily remind us that this is a world of mixtures and changes. In heaven there is perfect and perpetual light, and no darkness at all; in hell, utter darkness, and no gleam of light. In that world between these two there is a great gulf fixed; but, in this world, they are counterchanged, and we pass daily from one to another, that we may learn to expect the like vicissitudes in the providence of God, peace and trouble, joy and sorrow, and may set the one over-against the other, accommodating ourselves to both as we do to the light and darkness, bidding both welcome, and making the best of both. 5. That God divided them from each other by distinguishing names: He called the light day, and the darkness he called night. He gave them names, as the Lord of both; for the day is 5 his, the night also is his, Ps. lxxiv. 16. He is the Lord of time, and will be so, till day and night shall come to an end, and the stream of time be swallowed up in the ocean of eternity. Let us acknowledge God in the constant succession of day and night, and consecrate both to his honour, by working for him every day and resting in him every night, and meditating in his law day and night. 6. That this was the first day’s work, and a good day’s work it was. The evening and the morning were the first day. The darkness of the evening was before the light of the morning, that it might serve for a foil to it, to set it off, and make it shine the brighter. This was not only the first day of the world, but the first day of the week. I observe it to the honour of that day, because the new world began on the first day of the week likewise, in the resurrection of Christ, as the light of the world, early in the morning. In him the day-spring from on high has visited the world; and happy are we, for ever happy, if that day-star arise in our hearts.

(Excuse me that I made some insulting remarks on atheists in my previous Bible Commentary here on vbvbc.org. At my time carbon dating wasn’t an issue yet and there wasn’t a crowd of atheists around that I could offend)

-Matthew Henry commentaries
-Taken from the Matthew Henry concordance

By Matthew Henry (wrote 3 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 3/28/2011 19:12 pm

PROVERBS 8:22-31

The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:

While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:

When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:

When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

By ernie (wrote 5 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 12/5/2010 16:56 pm

“And God”
“Elohim” in the Hebrew is a plural reference to all three members of
the Godhead Three.

“saw”
God is observing progression of a sequence of events not yet completed.

“the light”
When God said, “Let there be light,” He was not “creating” light. He was “forming” light from the darkness, which He had previously created. The light that appeared did not emanate from God’s being: God is light (1 John 1:5); therefore, God has no need to command His own light to appear. The appearance of this light signaled the beginning of the measurement of a “Day.”

“that [it was] good:”
The quantity and quality of “light” was precise and exceptional.

“and God divided the light from the darkness.”
God is not separating the light from the darkness, but rather, this clause merely records the effect of God’s earlier command that there be light.

By Roland G. (wrote 1411 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 5/15/2010 04:49 am

We’ll leave a light on for ya:
God is good. “Goodness is diffusive of itself” according to G. Gordon Liddy. Meaning: God wants to create because His is good, and the creation is good because it came from good God. Darkness is defined as the absence of light. So, the darkness that was over the deep (verse 2) was not darkness as we understand it. We should not assume that the darkness is evil just because the light is good. It is helpful to understand evil by using the symbol of darkness, but they are not the same. Light and darkness are opposites, but they are also compliments to one another. Finally there seems to be one point of confusion: This verse states that light was separated from darkness, however verse 14 states that the lights (stars) that will be created will divide the day from the night.

By Terik Q (wrote 65 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 2/12/2009 16:37 pm

And God saw the light . Here God is introduced by Moses as surveying his work, that he might take pleasure in it. But he does it for our sake, to teach us that God has made nothing without a certain reason and design. And we ought not so to understand the words of Moses as if God did not know that his work was good, till it was finished. But the meaning of the passage is, that the work, such as we now see it, was approved by God. Therefore nothing remains for us, but to acquiesce in this judgment of God. And this admonition is very useful. For whereas man ought to apply all his senses to the admiring contemplation of the works of God, we see what license he really allows himself in detracting from them.

By John Calvin (wrote 19 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 10/22/2008 11:34 am

In God’s unapproachable depth of wisdom and creative power he begins to unfold his creation for the purpose of fellowship with man created in his image is so wonderous to even try to behold. “God saw the light, that it was good: he seperated the light from the darkness.”

Paul uses the phrase of light out of darkness in 55-57 A.D. written in 2 Corinthians 4:6 NAS ‘For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’ We were hidden in the Triune God always, from the beginning.

By Sharon Corea (wrote 5 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 6/6/2007 07:17 am