For a printable copy of this chapter (1) click here: 8.5×11″; A4 paper

Click here for a pdf of Genesis 1–3 in Redemptive History: 8.5×11″; A4 paper

.

5) Gen 1:9–13: On the third day, the Lord began organizing what he had created in Gen 1:1–8.

Moses wrote, “God said, ‘Let the waters below the heavens be collected to one place and let the dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground ‘land,’ and the collected waters, he called ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good.”

This separation of dry land from the seas set the parameters necessary for terrestrial life.[1]

A strong connection exists between the two commands, for the gathering of the waters enabled the land to emerge,[2] similar to what the Israelites had seen during their escape from Egypt (Exod 14:21–22).

In contrast to our modern view of the earth as continents surrounded by oceans, people in the Ancient Near East (ANE) saw the world as land containing great bodies of water.[3]

.

.

Unlike on previous days, on the third day God performed two separate acts of creation. He also did this on the sixth day. This maintains the literary parallelism between days one and four, days two and five, and days three and six.[4]

“Then God said, ‘Let the earth sprout grass, [and] plants scattering seeds, [and] fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kind, which have seeds in them on the earth.’ And it was so. Then the earth grew grass [and] seed-bearing plants according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

In the second creative act of this day, the Lord produced various types of vegetation.[5]

God desires to reign over an infinite variety of life.[6] Thus he created plants and trees which reproduce “according to [their] kind, which have seeds in them.”

The Hebrew term for “kind” (min) allows for a broader range than “species.”[7] In contrast, the word “seeds” (zera) implies a close resemblance to the parent.[8]

Significantly, God commanded reproduction “according to its kind” for plants and animals but not for humans (Gen 1:24, 26). This may indicate that God intended that vegetation and animals propagate more than the same species,[9] as the term “kind” does not correspond to a scientific species or genus.[10]

The Greek translation of the Old Testament reflects this, employing the terms homoios (“respecting perfect agreement, resembling”) twenty times and genos (“race, family, direct descendant, animal class”) eleven times for the term “min.”[11]

In Gen 1:11, the Greek translators opted for both terms, writing “according to kind (genos) and according to likeness (homoios).”[12]

.

For the last time in this creation narrative, the Lord named what he created. Soon he would delegate that responsibility to people (Gen 2:19–20; Gen 4:1).[13]

Once he completed the basic structure which supports life, God declared it “good.”[14]

In contrast, Sumerians believed that the continued fertility of their land depended upon the ritual reenactment of the death and resurrection of Dumuzi, the goddess Inanna’s lover. The rite centered upon cultic prostitution, rather than upon human sacrifice. Her temples included bridal chambers where a priestess engaged in mystical marriage with the king to renew the land’s productivity.[15]

However, God continually desired the production and creation of new life,[16] with what he made following his master design.[17]

He began with a day of black and white, added the blue of ocean and sky on a second day, and now included green. Soon the earth would contain the full palette of colors.[18]

.

.

The Mesopotamian creation account Enuma Elish follows a similar sequence of creating time, climate, and the ingredients necessary for agriculture.[19]

Marduk, the son of the gods, appointed the days to the sun god Shamash and established night and day. Then he took saliva from the evil water goddess he had slain and used it to create clouds, winds, and fog. After that, Marduk formed mountains and the rest of the earth from Tiamat’s body before opening the deep waters and springs. “Thus, he covered [the heavens] and established the earth.”[20]

Image via Wikimedia Commons

.

Read Gen 1:9–13. Why did Moses record two acts of creation on the third day? How did God prepare the earth so that vegetation could grow? What is the significance of the command for plants and animals to reproduce “according to their kind”? How does the account in these verses differ from the one in Enuma Elish regarding the separation of dry ground from the waters?

 .

 .

.

 Go to Chapter 2: God Creates Inhabitants for His Cosmic Temple (Genesis 1:14–25)

[Related posts include Living Things from the Earth (Gen 1:24–25); A Reversal of Creation (Gen 7:5–16); God Reverses the Flood (Gen 8:2–5); Greek Translation of the Old Testament; and Author and Date of Genesis]

[Click here to go to Chapter 1: God Establishes His Cosmic Temple through Creation (Genesis 1:1–13)]

.

[1]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 20.

[2]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 124–5.

[3]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 20.

[4]Walton, Genesis, 113.

[5]Hamilton, Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 125.

[6]Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall: A Theological Exposition of Genesis 1–3, 57.

[7]Swanson, “מִין” (min), DBLSDH, 4786.

[8]Desmond T. Alexander, From Paradise to the Promised Land,  Ed (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), 105.

[9]P. Beauchamp, “מִין” (min), TDOT 8:288–90, 289.

[10]Mark D. Futato, “מִין” (min), NIDOTTE 2:934–5, 934.

[11]P. Beauchamp,  “מִין” (min), TDOT, 8:289.

[12]Randall K. Tan, David A. DeSilva, and Isaiah Hoogendyk, eds., The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint: H. B. Swete Edition (Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2012), Gen 1:11, electronic ed.

[13]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 125.

[14]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 62.

[15] Joseph P. Healey, “Fertility Cults,” ABD 2:791–3, 792.

[16]Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall: A Theological Exposition of Genesis 1–3, 57.

[17]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 62.

[18]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 126.

[19]Walton, Genesis, 114.

[20]“The Creation Epic” (Enuma Elish), in ANET, lines 5.45–66, 501–2.