FIRST, SECOND, AND THird pictures. 365 is enlightened, that the spectator may be able to see it, and that the builder may be able to mould and fashion the materials upon which he is to work. This light is of periodical succession, causing day and night; because the whole is divided into day's works. Whence this light proceeds, is a question which cannot properly be proposed here. It is sufficient to say, that there must have been light enough to enable the spectator in some measure to discern the objects as they were formed. We cannot conclude, that because the light of day at present proceeds from the sun, there could have been no light before the sun existed. Indeed, there are other luminous bodies besides our sun, which shine with unborrowed light. The sun itself was not created until the fourth day. At present it is sufficient, that it is alternately clear and obscure, and that there is light both for the artificer and the spectator. Probably, however, it was only a glimmering and obscure light, like the morning or evening twilight. Second picture; vs. 6-8. Though light has dawned upon the earth, an ocean still encircles the globe, and cloud and vapor float over the waters. The upper water is now separated from the under; so that, as the Egyptians say, heaven and earth may no more be commingled and united in one mass (Diod. Sic. 1. 7), as they were on the first day. This is the second day's work. Third picture; vs. 9-13. After this great division, the other great movements can now proceed without hinderance. The builder first applies his hand to the inferior portion. He causes the dry land to rise from the lower waters, and separates it from the ocean, and from the smaller collections and currents of water, which now flow into the lower regions of the earth. This land is next furnished with plants of every kind. The naturalist may indeed object, that it is incredible that plants should spring from the earth, before the appearance of the sun. But it does not follow, that because such is the uniform course since the universe and the earth are finished, therefore such must have been the case in this incipient state. Besides, it seems, that the plants were only created on the third day; and grew and increased immediately on the appearance of the sun on the following day. On this third day, the earth was sowed and planted for the first time, by him who created the seeds and plants. And as we frequently sow and plant to day, because we expect that to morrow, and on the succeeding days, there will be weather favorable to the growth and germination of the seeds; so may God have now sowed and planted the earth, in prospect of the sun which on the morrow he should place in the heavens. Fourth picture; vs. 14-19. The superior portion is now to be fashioned ;-the upper waters, or the atmosphere. Here now the observer discovers the sun, moon, and stars apparently floating in a high and immeasurable distance above the clouds. These henceforth enlighten the earth, and shed their influence upon it. The little moon is represented as, next to the sun, the greatest light, because it appears so to us. A painter would justly be accused of a fault, if he should otherwise represent it. He must represent it, as it appears to the eye. Fifth picture; vs. 20-23. The upper and lower waters are peopled with inhabitants ;--birds, fishes, and other creatures of the sea. The supposition sometimes made, that Moses describes the birds as formed from the waters, is without foundation. Sixth picture; vs. 24-31. The inhabitants of the dry land are now produced, after every thing is properly prepared for them, and provision made for their sustenance,-all the beasts of the field, quadrupeds, and reptiles; and lastly man himself, the lord of this lower creation. He is not introduced into his dwelling before it is entirely ready. The house is first built, and then the occupant enters. Vid. the Article on the Creation of man. At the end of the sixth day, the builder once more reviews his whole work: "He considered every thing which he had made, and behold! it was very good." The same formula of approbation occurs at the end of the several day's works, with only two exceptions: viz. (a) It is entirely wanting at the end of the second day's work (v. 8). In some MSS. of the Septuagint, the formula is here introduced; but it is wanting in others. Zacharia conjectures (Bibl. Th. II. S. 34, f.), that the words, "And the evening and the morning were the second day," which now stand at the end of v.8, should be first introduced at the end of v. 10, before the words, "and God saw that it was good;" making what is now the begin ning of the third day's work, a part of the second. But this transposition is unnecessary. The use of this formula of approbation appears not to be regulated by the division of days, but by the completion of the larger portions of the creation. All the changes which the water was to undergo, were not finished at the end of EXPLANATION OF DIFFICULT TERMS. 367 the second day; they continue even into the third; and this appears to be the reason why the formula of approbation is omitted at the end of the second day. (b) This formula stands in the middle of the description of the work of the sixth day, immediately after the mention of the creation of the beasts, in v. 26. Michaelis and Eichhorn well observe here, that it answers the purpose of a pause, before the transition is made from the inferior creation here completed, to the production of man, the noblest creature of the earth. 2. Explanation of some obscure terms, which occur in the description of the six day's work. V. 3. For the meaning of the term to speak, as used here and in the rest of the history of the creation, vid. § 47, II. 1. V. 6. 2 is translated by Luther Veste, because the Vulgate has firmamentum, which is a translation of the orɛoέwμa of the LXX. p, the root of this word, signifies, to stamp (with the feet), Ezek. 6:11. 25: 6; and hence, to spread out, to expand, to hammer out, to tread out (calcando expandere).-Moses and the other sacred writers always use this term to denote the heavens,-das Gewölbe, fornix, camera;—the welkin, the expanse over our heads; elsewhere the tent of the heavens. The origin of the term, and of the idea from which it is derived, can be best learned from Ezekiel's vision, 1: 22, 23, 26. 10:1. there denotes the floor of the throne of God in heaven. God, the Ruler and Judge, was imagined by the Jews as sitting upon a throne in heaven. Other nations had the same conception. According to Homer, the gods sat with Jupiter, zovoto v danedo (upon a golden floor); Il. IV. 2. The upper sanctuary and the throne of God, then, is above the expanse of the heavens. This expanse is the floor, upon which he places his feet, and over which he rides in his chariot of thunder. Vid. the texts cited from Ezekiel. Hence the whole earth, which has this for a covering, is frequently called the footstool of God. By p is meant (a) the atmosphere, which bears the rainy and stormy clouds; also, (b) whatever is still above them,-all that the eye can see over us in the heavens. In the immeasurable distance of the blue sky, high above the region of the clouds, float the sun, moon, and stars, as it appears to the eye. For this reason they are placed in the firmament, vs. 15, 17.-When it is said v. 8, "God called the, heaven," it is as much as to say: what we call heaven, is God's footstool; what we behold high over our heads, is under his feet. So in Homer it is said, " Men call it so; the gods call it dif ferently." The Deity sees every thing in a different light from what we do, and therefore names every thing differently, to speak after the manner of men. V. 11, 12. Ng, is the generic name for every thing which grows out of the earth;-the green plant., is the specific name for trees, and arboreous plants., stands for the herb, and lesser plants. is used in Hebrew in reference both to sowing and planting; like the Latin serere; and denotes therefore here, every kind of propagation. V. 14. The usefulness of the heavenly bodies to the earth and to men is here stated. The word nie, sign, signifies a mark for the division of time. The sun and stars are intended to determine the times (), the days, and the years. are not so much the four revolving seasons of the year, as months. , not, supra cœlum, but to heaven, towards heaven, heavenwards; as the flight of birds appears to the eye. V. 21., Wallfische (whales), Luther, because the LXX have xn, and the Vulgate ceti. But these words signify, all great fishes, pisces cetacei. The Hebrew word is used for all the beasts of the sea of the greater kind, as Ps. 104: 26; for the crocodile, Ezek. 29: 3. 32: 2; also for great serpents. is the name for all creatures which move upon the belly; hence, the worm. It is applied, however, sometimes to creatures that swim, and even to quadrupeds who do not go upright, like man. V. 22. denotes here, as frequently, the propagation of the 773 species, or the bestowment of the power to propagate the race; as, v. 28. Gen. 24: 60. Ps. 128: 3, 4. V. 24. A division of land-animals: (a), the larger kind of tame, domestic animals, when opposed to. (b), the smaller kind of tame animals. (c) 7-in, the wild beast. .the beast אָרֶץ 1 1 ARTICLE SIXTH. OF THE CREATION AND ORIGINAL CONDITION OF MAN. $51. Of the nature of man, especially of the soul of man, and of his destination. WITH this subject it will be most convenient to commence this Article. After this, we shall consider the Mosaic account of the creation of man; then his happy original condition, not only as described by the Bible, and by Christian writers, but also by those who have not enjoyed the light of revelation; and lastly the preservation and propagation of the human race. I. The nature of man. 1. Of how many parts does man consist? The Holy Scriptures, and even those of the Old Testament, constantly teach that man consists of two parts, body and soul; e. g. Eccl. 12: 7, "The dust returns again to the earth, of which it is a part; the spirit returns to God, who gave it;" Matt. 10: 28, "Fear not those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul;" etc. Nor can we suppress the conviction, that there is within us a nature different from the body, and superior to it,-an enlivening and quickening principle, through which we possess the power of feeling, thinking, willing, and acting. But notwithstanding this conviction, there have always been different opinions with regard to the constituent parts of human nature. Some have maintained, that either the soul, or the body is the only essential part of man. While others have maintained, that he consists of three essential parts, body, soul, and spirit. This opinion had its origin in the Cabbalistic and Platonic phi |