CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 1:6. Firmament] Or: “expanse;” prop. “something beaten out.” “expanded.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 1:6-8
THE ATMOSPHERE
The word here translated “firmament” more properly means expanse; it comes from a Hebrew verb meaning “to spread out.” It is literally “Let there be something spread out between the waters” Let us review the uses of the atmosphere.
I. It is necessary to the possibility of human life. Had not the waters been divided by the atmosphere, human life could not have existed. There would have been no chamber in the great universe for the occupation of man. The waters would have prevailed. Whereas by the atmosphere the waters below were divided from those above, and space was left for the residence of man. “The Lord stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in,” Isaiah 40:22. Thus in the work of the second day we have abundant evidence that God was preparing the world for the habitation of man. The atmosphere.—
1. Gathers up the vapours.
2. Throws them down again in rain, snow, or dew, when needed.
3. Modifies and renders more beautiful the light of the sun.
4. Sustains life.
II. It is necessary for the practical purposes of life. Suppose that by some miraculous intervention human life was rendered possible without the existence of the atmosphere, yet it would be useless and vain, totally incapable of occupation.
1. The atmosphere is necessary for the transmission of sound. If there were no atmosphere, the bell might be tolled, the cannon might be fired, a thousand voices might render the music of the sweetest hymn, but not the faintest sound would be audible. Thus all commercial, educational and social intercourse would be at an end, as men would not be able to hear each other speak. We seldom think of the worth of the atmosphere around us, never seen, seldom felt, but without which the world would be one vast grave.
2. The atmosphere is necessary for many purposes related to the inferior objects of the world. Without it the plants could not live, our gardens would be divested of useful vegetables, and beautiful flowers. Artificial light would be impossible. The lamp of the mines could not be kindled. The candle of the midnight student could never have been lighted. The smoke of the winter fire would not have ascended into the sky. The bird could not have wended its way to heaven’s gate to utter its morning song, as there would have been no air to sustain its flight.
III. Let us make a practical improvement of the subject.
1. To be thankful for the air we breathe. How often do we recognise the air by which we are surrounded as amongst the chief of our daily blessings, and as the immediate and continued gift of God? How seldom do we utter praise for it. It is unseen; often unheard; hence, almost forgotten. Were it visible or audible it might the more readily and frequently inspire us with gratitude. The gift is daily. It is universal. It should evoke the devotion of the world.
2. To make the best use of the life it preserves. To cultivate a pure life. To speak golden words. To make a true use of all the subordinate ministries of nature.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 1:6. That the heaven above is understood by the firmament is evident, because God set the sun, moon and stars therein (Genesis 1:14). And that it includes the air also, is evident from the fact that birds are to fly in it (Genesis 1:20).
God gathered the water below into one channel that the earth might be dry and habitable: however in His wisdom and providence he hath so ordered it, that waters issuing out from the seas by secret passages, and breaking out into fountains, and rivers, may thereby make fruitful the valleys and lower parts of the earth; yet we know that they reach not to the higher grounds, much less to the tops of the hills. It was, therefore, needful that some water should be carried on high above the hills; that from thence they might distil in showers upon the higher places of the earth to moisten them, that no part thereof might remain unfruitful [J. White].
The sky according to optical appearance:—
1. Carpet (Psalms 104:2).
2. A Curtain (Isaiah 40:22).
3. A transparent work of sapphire (Exodus 24:10).
4. A molten looking glass (Job 37:18).
The water:—
1. Once boundless.
2. Once useless.
3. Now fruitful.
4. Now traversed.
The gathering together of the waters—
1. Some think that the earth was a plain without hills, that the waters might the more speedily run together; and that the present inequality in the land began after the flood.
2. That the waters were dried up by the fervent heat of the sun.
3. That the earth was dried up by a mighty wind, as after the deluge.
4. That it was done by the direct command of God.
God’s speaking is His making. Word and power go together with Him.
Genesis 1:7. We must acknowledge both the rain and the fruitfulness of the earth as from God.
1. By seeking them at His hand (James 5:17).
2. By returning thanks to Him for them, as blessings of inestimable value, the want of which would ruin the world in one year.
The firmament is a partition between waters and waters.
The firmament doth its duty at God’s command, admirably to preserve creatures, and abides.
Genesis 1:8. God who gives being best gives the name to things. Their natures are well known to Him … The second day is God’s creature as the first … Work and day should lead us more to know God their Maker.
Day and night continue—
1. Because the same power that created continues them.
2. Because God is neither capable of error or inconstancy.
3. Learn to regard the Divine Being as immutable.
I. The speaking.
II. The dividing.
III. The naming.
SUGGESTIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
Heaven! Genesis 1:8. Look above you, and in the over-arching firmament read the truth of an all-pervading Providence. “Yon sky,” says Gill, “is God’s outspread hand, and the glittering stars are the jewels on the fingers of the Almighty.” Do you not see that His hand closes round you on all sides? you cannot go where universal love shines not? As Luther remarked: “I was at my window, and saw the stars, and the sky, and that vast and glorious firmament in which the Lord has placed them. I could nowhere discover the columns on which the Master has supported His immense vault, and yet the heavens did not fall. I beheld thick clouds hanging above us like a vast sea, and I could perceive neither ground on which they reposed, nor cords by which they were suspended, and yet they did not fall upon us. Why? Because
“There is a power,
Unseen, that rules the illimitable world,
That guides its motion from the brightest star
To the least dust of this sin-tainted mould.”—Thomson.
Mountains! Genesis 1:9. Fancy the mountains brought down to the level of a uniform plane. Conceive no peaks soaring aloft into the regions of perpetual snow—no declivities, leading the wanderer in a few hours from Arctic colds to the genial mildness of an Italian sky. Picture no precipitous streams, whose foaming waters as they bound along first reflect the dark pine in their crystal mirror, then the sturdy oak, then the noble chestnut, or the graceful laurel. How monotonous would be the landscape! how uniform the character of organic life over vast tracts of country, where new vegetation—thanks to the perpetual changes of elevation and aspect of the soil—is seen revelling in endless multiplicity of forms. But what if earth
“Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein,
Each to other like, more than on earth is thought.”