Week 15: My summary of the Creation in Genesis NIV

In Genesis 1:3-5, God made an equal division between light and darkness. This great division shows that God is creating order and balance, setting fundamental laws that would govern the Earth (Asimov 21). The division between day and night indicates that time became relevant in regards to the 24-hour for Earth to make a complete rotation around its axis. On the second day, God separated the waters and called the expanse above the water “sky”(verse 6-8). Modern scholars interpret the expanse above the water as cloud and rain on account of the separation between the two waters(36). On the third day, God separated the land from the sea and introduced vegetation that would consume the land (verse 9-13). Vegetation was only possible because of the separation between the water and sky so rain may fall on to the land. In verse 14-19, God created the sun, moon, planet, and stars. The sun would govern the day and the lesser lights would govern the night (verse 16). In verse 14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years…” This indicates that Earth is now in orbit with the sun and that each full rotation will last 365 days and seasons will depend on the location of Earth’s orbit around the sun. Verse 14 is usually seen as a contradiction to verse 3-5 when God created light and separated the day from night. Asimov explains, “Light was already created on the first day, but the light-giving objects in the heaven were created only on the fourth day.” Essentially, the light that was created on the first day was not contained until the fourth day when God created the sun, which is merely an object to hold the light (Asimov 41). On the fifth day, God created living creatures that would rule over the sky and sea (verse 20-23). In verses 24-31, wild animals, livestock, and insects were created on the sixth day so they may inherit the land and that man, created in His own image, would rule over all the living creatures and vegetation on Earth. God created the Heaven, Earth, Mankind, and all the living creatures in six days. And on the seventh day, God rested from His work and made that day holy (Chapter 2:2-3).