The Grand Crescendo-Genesis 1:6-25

Often in works of music, composers will use gradual crescendos to accentuate the drama of a piece and move it toward its intended climax or finale. Two songs that accomplish this include the theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey and Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. Both of these works of art slowly turn up the volume as they progress and ultimately resolve in a series of loud and beautiful chords that showcase the creativity of the composer and demand a response from the audience. This is similar to what is witnessed throughout the creation week of Genesis 1:6-25. What I plan to do today is have us listen to the score that Moses pens in this passage, paying special attention to how it crescendos toward something truly remarkable. Then, I plan on leaving the chord unresolved until next week’s fortissimo so that we can appreciate the last part of the final productive day of God’s creation for all that it has to offer on its own. For now, let us work our way through Genesis 1:6-25 by observing days 2-6 of God’s creation. Ultimately, in this passage we will be learn why the God of the Bible is bigger and better than anything we could ever witness in the universe.

Day 2-Expanse-1:6-8

In the first day of creation, God spoke light into existence, thereby showcasing His glory before the dark and empty universe. Such light distinguished itself against a backdrop of darkness and created two resulting phenomena: day and night. These two categories prove essential to both the rhythm and life of all that currently inhabits the earth. Therefore, in creating day and night—light and darkness—God establishes the beginning of an order that is added to in the remaining days of creation week.

After drawing distinctions between light and darkness—day and night—“God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters’…” This is the second separation required for an orderly universe—especially as it pertains to life on planet earth—a sky and a sea.  

As simply as it was spoken, it was—“God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below and the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so” (1:7). On day two, one could distinguish between the sky (where water is held up in clouds) and the sea (where water collects below). Soon, God would populate these realms with creatures and celestial bodies. But for now, these separations were empty—filled only with the light of the glory of God.

As God has already done and will be shown to do time and time again, He next names what He created saying—“God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day” (1:8). In this context, “heavens” refers to the skies visible to the human eye—not the invisible abode of the spiritual realm.

What Moses reveals under the influence of the Holy Spirit is as much a polemic against paganism as it is an apologetic for the Hebrews.  In this case, Moses is demonstrating the one true God’s superiority over the pagan Gods who were more like fixtures within the heavens than sovereign rulers presiding over the heavens. For instance, Anu, the sky god, and Enlil, the god of the atmosphere, were two deities believed to establish and depose kings of the Sumerian city-states. Baal in the Ugaritic pantheon is identified as the “Rider of the Clouds” as he was the god of storm and rain (Matthews, 150). But Israel’s faith declares that Yahweh is the source of the heavens and all that it would ever contain—the sun, stars, nebulae, clouds, etc. All of the glories of the heavens are inferior in majesty to the God who created them. Anything witnessed in the skies above or in the space beyond is merely an instrument to serve God and showcase His glory.

Day 3-Dry Land-1:9-13

On day three, God introduces another important distinction required for organized life on planet earth—the distinction between land and sea—“then God said, ‘Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and the let the dry land appear’ and it was so” (1:9). This completes the third major distinction necessary to yield a productive and life-giving earth: day and night, earth and atmosphere, land and sea.

Again, because God provided all that was necessary to make that which existed, He allows Himself the pleasure of naming it what He will—“God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good” (1:10). Inasmuch as elements of the sky were worshipped by Egyptians and other pagan nations, so too were bodies of water and what was in them (especially the Nile). However, once again, Moses reveals that God stands over and above these created things. In other words, “the seas are not independent forces to be feared or worshipped but creations that respond to the direct commands of God“ (Matthews, 151).

Verses 11-13 “move from the creation of the bare earth to the ornamentation of that earth. Unlike the first and second days, which feature one act of creation, this day has two acts of creation: earth and vegetation on the earth” (Hamilton, 125)—“Then God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them’ and it was so” (1:11). 

“the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seeds in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good” (1:12). Here, there is no hint of a mother earth who acts independent of Father God (or father time for that matter). The earth responds to the command of God who instructs it to be productive. God alone is the source of inspiration behind everything the earth yields. This too was distinct from what the pagans believed about how the world operated. Many ancients thought that vegetation and all reproducing processes were dependent on the procreation of the gods. However, here, vegetation and its reproduction is attributed to God’s enabling of the soil through His divine word.

The phenomena of production is witnessed among the plants “after their kind” (a phrase repeated three times in verses 11 and 12). Though it is perhaps too limiting to insist that the word “kind” refers to specific species, one thing is clear from both these verses and what is coming up—distinctions and differences among God’s creation are not to be feared, erased, or manipulated. They are, according to God—“good.” It is therefore a good and God-ordained phenomenon for a pear tree to produce pears and a wheat field to yield wheat. Such boundaries are pleasing to the God who created plants to make other plants “after their kind” not “of a different kind.” 

As if by reflex, Moses reminds the reader in verse 13 that “there was evening and there was morning, a third day” (1:13)—almost insisting on a literal interpretation of the “days” described here.

Day 4-Celestial Bodies-1:14-19

The second set of three days begins on day 4 when God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth’ and it was so” (1:14-15). On days 4-6, movement is introduced onto the landscape of the heavens as stars, a sun, and a moon is formed to help distinguish between days, months, and years. With these celestial bodies, God organizes the calendar and provides natural lighting.

The significance of this day’s creative acts is highlighted by the detailed description of what God brings forth—“God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; he made stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good…” (1:18). Moses’ description is careful and pointed again at inferior worldviews as it contradicts common pagan misconceptions. The usual Hebrew terms for “sun” and “moon” are not employed and in their place “lesser” and “greater” lights is used. Not only that but the “stars” are almost downplayed in this account. These descriptions and word choices spoke against the pagan fascination with the stars, moon, and sun. Inasmuch as stars helped navigation and the moon and Sun identified time, these celestial bodies were worshipped by Mesopotamian and Egyptian religions. I imagine the temptation to worship these things would have significantly increased for the Egyptians and others had they possessed access to the telescopes and information we now have today.

 “You might be surprised to know that there are 200-400 billion stars in our galaxy. Each one is a separate island in space, perhaps with planets... But then, there could be as many as 500 billion galaxies in the Universe, and each of which could have as many or more stars as the Milky Way. Multiply those two numbers together and you’ll see that there could be as many as 2 x 10²³ stars in the Universe. That’s 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri, located 4.2 light-years away. In other words, it takes light itself more than 4 years to complete the journey from Earth. If you tried to hitch a ride on the fastest spacecraft ever launched from Earth, it would still take you more than 70,000 years to get there from here.” (universetoday.com). 

Moses describes the vastness of space in just a few short words. In so doing, he subtly but directly demonstrates that the sun and moon are not cosmic deities worthy of reverence. Instead, they are creations of an even more wondrous and powerful God!

God calls this grandest of creations (at least by way of sheer scale and size) “good” and then allows these bodies to govern the evening and morning from that point on—“there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day…”(1:19).

Day 5-Fish and Birds-1:20-23

Day 5 of the creation week involves the filling of the waters and the skies—“then God said, ‘Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heaven…” (1:20). Again, days 4-6 involve the filling of what was created in days 1-3 with moving bodies and living organisms. Here, God fills the two realms that were distinguished in day 2—the sea and the expanse of the heavens.

Interestingly, “so God created” is the second of only 4 verses in which bara (“created”) is used in the narrative (see also 1:1, 27; 2:3). This phrase begins and ends the section, 1:1-2:3, and is also found in two very important places—the creation of the first animate life (birds and sea creature in verse 20) and the creation of human life (verse 27). It is almost as though the construction bara with the subject “God” was deliberately inspired and then penned in order to demonstrate on a grammatical level that God was totally autonomous over the creation of these living organisms and that their existence came from nothing else. Notice too that when God created these organisms He began with full-fledged “swarms of creatures” and flying “birds” not microscopic paramecium or archaebacteria.

Accompanying the creative act of God is His call upon the creatures to produce “after its kind” (1:21)—“God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God say that it was good” (1:21). Remember, Moses is writing this way before Darwin ever challenged the status quo concerning the origins of the species. Macro-evolution did not threaten Moses’ worldview or challenge the people of God toward naturalism. Animals producing another animals after their kind was assumed in Moses’ day—not questioned. However, Moses writes down what would have been assumed anyway in an effort to demonstrate that from the beginning, God ordered that creatures produce the same kinds of creatures—not different creatures all-together (in a process known as macro-evolution). God calls this “good.”

In addition to creating creatures in the sea and in the air, God blesses them saying “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth” (1:22). The ability to procreate is a special feature given by the Creator God to His creatures. Though He was the sole giver of life, He invites and encourages His creatures to do the same, albeit in His will and according to capacities He has provided. That God created creatures and endowed them with the ability to reproduce means to worship an animal (as was done and is still done in today’s world)—no matter how beautiful, fearsome, or strong—is to worship something inferior to the God who created it.

As He has proven to do in his description of every other day, Moses concludes the daily log with “there was evening and there was morning, fifth day…”(1:23).

Day 6-Land Creatures-1:24-25

So far the creative acts have been working up and gaining momentum, it would seem, for some big finale. A plain dark world is first illuminated by light, then divisions are made between the sea and the sky and land is raised out of the depths. Days 1-3 provide a canvas upon which to put what comes in days 4-6. The descriptions for these days are more lengthy as celestial bodies are placed in the sky, birds placed in the air, and fish placed in the sea. Phenomena like blessings, reproduction, categories, and order or also introduced, rendering the world a far more beautiful and wondrous place than it was just a few short days ago. Everything this far is declared “good.”

However, things only crescendo more on day 6—the most significant of the creation week—“then God said, ‘let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their king’ and it was so…” (1:24). Added to all of the amazing creations in the first five days is the entire animal kingdom—beasts of burden (or domesticated animals), creeping creatures (bugs, insects, snakes, reptiles, microscopic organisms), and other more wild beasts. Surely, if God is bigger than the sea and sky, moon and stars, sea creature and birds of the air, He is also bigger than all of the other living creatures. This renders the pagan worship of animals inferior to the worship of the one true God.

Also, as with birds and fish, these animals are said to produce “after their kind” (twice in verse 24 alone)—continuing the theme of order among and within different animal groups. For all living creatures, “God set reproductive parameters” (Matthews, 160) and nowhere does Genesis suggests that one kind of animal could ever yield another.

“God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that 

creeps on the group after its kind; and God saw that it was good” (1:25). 

So What?

As we’ve worked our way through this passage, hopefully you have heard the gradual crescendo Moses has been working to build that will inevitably lead to the fortissimo that is to come next week. However, before the chord resolves and Creation week comes to a close, there is at least one insight that we must pull from Genesis 1:6-25. In this passage, God is depicted as standing over above the darkness, the sea, the sky, the earth, the celestial bodies, and the creatures of the sea, air, and land because He is the source of their existence. He is Creator God and as such is bigger than anything else that we could ever face. If last week we appreciated God’s ability to speak order into the chaos, this week we can appreciate that our God is bigger, more wondrous, more powerful, and more intimidating than anything we will ever confront in this universe. Not only did he create everything according to His will, but He ordered everything to behave in a certain way.  Praise the Lord! For the lost, this is a call to trade belief in an inferior god or in themselves for the one who stands head and shoulders above all. For the saved, this is a call to find peace in knowing that the one you have a relationship with will never be shaken or threatened.