Genesis 1:6-8
Categories: Bible Study LessonsMoses continues his explanation of the origin of all things by continuing with the most basic of the features of the visible universe. God has made visibility of the universe possible with the creation of light and now he provides a place that is neither in the water nor in the vast reaches of space. God says, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters” (see also Job 37:18; Psalm 136:5; Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 51:15). The expanse that was created is the realm of man, beast, and things that fly. Moses removes the hydrological cycle from the realm of mythology in the minds of the children of Israel by explaining that God separated the waters with the expanse.
Feature by feature God is reinforcing His command in Exodus 20:3 where He says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Genesis 1 tells them and us, feature by feature, that all things were created by the God that brought Israel out of the house of bondage. None were created by, or identified with, the gods of the Egyptians, Canaanites, Babylonians, or anyone else. The main point being made is the same as that made by Isaiah 45:5-6. “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.”