GENESIS 1: CREATION, the SIX DAYS

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Introduction to the Six Days:

God’s six workdays (Genesis 1:2-31) and His day of rest afterwards from all of His labor (Genesis 2:2-3) are called "creation week" by theologians.  According to the Christian Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed, God the Father Almighty* (internet) evidently spoke the heavens and the earth into existence from nothing (Psalm 33:6). Modern astronomy contributes that the earth’s initial creation left it as a hot, barren, rocky planet from the solar accretion disk before it was covered with water in v2. Its surface looked like Mars or Venus appears today.  Then during six days of the earth’s rotation, apparently God the Son (Colossians 1:16)* made the Earth into a habitat with creatures and human life.  Apparently, He made their bodies from Earth’s dust when He appeared on the earth in human form. God’s triunity (v26, “Let us…”) created human consciousness in His spiritual image and likeness to rule over it all.  These six days seem emphasized to be literal Earth days by the repeated “there was evening, and there was morning” ending for each day in v2-31, so these “days” cannot be interpreted as lengthy time periods. 

*Genesis 1: Origin and Authorship commentary, The nature of God.

The Genesis 1 creation account described the events as God saw them, but it was written in a literary descriptive style for ancient humans, rather than as a science textbook they weren’t educated to understand, as was explained in Genesis 1: Origin and Authorship.  The sequence of daily events formed a logical progression where each event supported those that followed.  This full commentary Genesis 1: Creation, the Six Days, covers vv2-31 and includes the science behind the scriptures that explains how the earth was made to be a habitat with life.

Earth’s original atmosphere:

Earth’s original atmosphere would have been produced by outgassing from its hot minerals and it was rich in carbon dioxide. Earth’s original atmosphere can be imagined by considering our barren neighboring planets today. Mars and Venus still have atmospheres of nearly all carbon dioxide (internet) without any oxygen because of their absence of photosynthetic plants and microbes that consume carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. 

On Earth's 4^th day land and underwater vegetation and microbial algae started to grow abundantly in direct sunlight through Earth’s scattered clouds (see commentary for vv11-20 below). Then free oxygen gas abruptly increased both in the atmosphere and dissolved in water. Oxygen would be needed for air-breathing creatures and humans starting on the 5th and 6th days (below) that also originally ate only plants.  Today’s fossil fuels came from plants- coal, oil, and natural gas. Plant fossils provide evidence for Earth’s abundant ancient vegetation (Topical note 5). Earth’s modern atmospheric composition is about 20% free oxygen and less than 1% carbon dioxide in contrast to neighboring Mars and Venus.

Forming "the waters" (vv2-10): 

Genesis 1:2 recorded that before light appeared on Earth’s 1st day it was covered by a global sea (“the deep”), and (“darkness”) was above it that was a totally dark, evidently rainy cloud layer (below).   Together, God called the sea and the dark cloud layer “the waters” in vv2-10. The creation events during the “six days” described in vv2-31 started on what God defined as Earth's “1st Day”- when the waters covered it. It was reasonable to start the creation account here because Earth's surface ocean began its development into habitat for life. However, details of forming the waters were too technical for ancient humans to understand (see Genesis 1: Origin and Authorship).  So, God intended the water-covered earth to be taken for granted by them like everything else He created. Modern humans desire to know more so this commentary strives to explain the science behind the account.

Modern astronomy teaches the earth originated as a barren, dry rocky planet from the sun’s accretion disk, so where did the great volume of liquid water that comprises Earth’s unique surface ocean originate? 

Conventional scientists don’t agree on where the water for Earth’s ocean came from{8,9,22}. However, evidently abundant water was part of Earth’s geochemical composition in the “beginning”. Most the cooler planets and their moons further from the hot sun than Venus show present or past evidence of significant liquid water, or ice. Earth’s rocks also contained all of the atomic elements that would be needed to make life forms (see this commentary for the 5th and 6th days below). Water that formed the ocean would have been from non-covalently bonded hydrated minerals. Only weak hydrogen bonds held this water in place so it originally vaporized into space with heat from the gravitational compaction of its accreted materials and by its internal natural radioactivity.  Earth’s innate geochemical water would have also formed subterranean pockets of pressurized liquid water throughout the earth’s rocky crust later after it cooled. According to Genesis 2:6 pressurized underground water moistened the ground after the global rain stopped, before vegetation first grew on the land.

The brief period when “the waters” formed over the earth was between the end of the scriptural “beginning” in v1 after the solar system was completed and Earth’s 1st Day in v2 when it was covered with water, “the deep”.  How Earth got its ocean of liquid water wasn’t mentioned in scripture so a scientific process is described here- 

Earth’s plentiful geochemical water must have been vaporizing from the hot earth (perhaps over 300 degC) into space after it was initially created from compaction in the solar accretion disk. Later it condensed to pour down as torrential rain that produced its global ocean when the earth and its atmosphere had cooled sufficiently. Although rain wasn’t specifically described in Genesis 1 scientific details were omitted from the scripture account. The science of meteorology explains the totally dark cloud layer that surrounded the earth (v2) was composed of large water droplets that gravitationally fell as rain. However, had the earth cooled naturally and slowly, any accumulated surface water would have evaporated from the hot earth into space so a permanent ocean over the earth could not have formed. Evidently this was the fate of Mars that lost its watery ocean early in its history (internet) to become a global barren desert. Modern high-resolution telescopes, fantastic space probes and rovers show this today (below).  

God’s special care was needed to form Earth’s unique permanent surface ocean of liquid water:    

Indeed, v2 recorded “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (above the cloud tops) during Earth’s darkness early on its 1^st Day while He apparently personally supervised making the newly created barren planet into a habitat.  Evidently, God accelerated natural cooling of Earth’s surface to below the boiling temperature of water (100 degC) and its atmosphere cooled to below its dew point. Earth’s escaping water vapor then formed a dark cloud layer around it from existing atmospheric aerosols (v2).  It must have been well over 10 miles thick- the elevation limit of modern thunderstorms. Water condensed into continuous violent global rainfall until the cloud layer was completely depleted.  This formed the earth’s original mile-deep global ocean (Summarizing Earth’s 3^rd day, below) from violent rainfall which could have taken over a month of earth rotations. So, the rain must have started before what God called its “1st day”. From God’s perspective as He “was hovering over the waters” (v2) above the sunlit cloud tops, Earth would have appeared as a boiling, steaming caldron as the torrential rain poured down on its hot rocky surface! The resulting ocean reservoir would end water loss into space and support future life (Earth’s water cycle, below). The mere existence of Earth’s permanent watery surface ocean that is unique among known planets is the best evidence for the unnaturally rapid cooling that was needed to produce it. The clouds thinned enough for sunlight to penetrate them on Earth’s 1st day when God said “Let there be light” in vv3-5, and the rain stopped on the 2^nd Day after the cloud layer was fully depleted when “sky” formed in vv6-8 and the sea was filled. On the 4^th Day the depleted cloud layer finally scattered and the sun, moon, and stars became visible in Earth’s sky in vv16-18. (See A Technical Summary of Genesis 1 in Genesis 1: Creation, The beginning).

God's specific method to quickly cool the earth isn’t obvious (below) but because the events in the early chapters of Genesis are factual they should be consistent with observational science. Scientific reasoning from blackbody theory shows heat loss by thermal infrared radiation from the solid earth into the vacuum of surrounding space was the only physical process to cool the earth that is consistent with God’s physical laws of nature. 

Because God created planet earth He has control over its internal heat. He may have reduced the “random thermal vibrations” of the atoms in the earth to sufficiently lower its temperature without cracking its lithosphere. Because of blackbody theory described above Earth’s sudden thermal energy decrease was necessarily accompanied by a huge blast of infrared radiation from it into surrounding space. Thousands of years later, God evidently briefly over-heated Earth’s hot interior that fractured its lithosphere to begin Earth’s plate tectonics and start Noah’s Flood. (Topical note 4, Earth’s plate tectonics further describes how that overheating began global volcanism and Noah's Flood (Topical note 4, Earth's plate tectonics).

Earth’s water cycle:

The continuous global rain stopped on Earth’s 2^nd day. Then water evaporated from the new ocean reservoir that cooled as it rose to form scattered clouds in Earth’s atmosphere. Then it returned as sporadic rainfall to the ocean.  This evaporative-condensing water cycle prevented its loss into space to support future life.

Summary of Days 1-4:

The effects of rapidly cooling the earth that formed “the waters” apparently started before Earth’s 1st Day (v2), and they evidently continued through early creation week. As was described earlier, the torrential rainfall that produced Earth’s unique watery surface ocean nearly depleted its dense cloud layer by the 1st day when God said “Let there be light” and cloudy daylight appeared over the ocean (vv3-5). The clouds were entirely depleted by Earth’s 2^nd Day so the steady global rain stopped. Then clear, dry “sky” replaced the global rain between the sea and the thin cloud layer above it (vv6-8). The gradual sky clearing continued until the 4th Day (vv14-18) when only scattered clouds were left.  They were fed by Earth's water cycle (as described above) and direct sunlight illuminated the dry land and sea through a globally partly cloudy sky, like today. And the sun, moon, and the stars appeared in the sky.  

Although the events on Days 1-4 were described separately in the Genesis 1 account, it appears they may have all resulted from quickly cooling the earth.  These events are explained in detail with supporting scientific evidence below in this Genesis 1 commentary for The Six Days separately for each day of creation week. But first, the events for Days 1-4 that prepared the earth for living creatures are briefly summarized below to show how these daily events supported each that followed.

Summarizing Earth’s 1st day: 

Evidently God accelerated cooling the earth to end evaporative loss of precious water from its hydrated minerals into space that would be necessary to support future life.  This rapid cooling formed a thick, dense global cloud layer over the earth that evidently condensed as extraordinarily heavy rainfall starting before the 1st day and produced a warm, shallower global sea than today. The continuous, torrential rainfall nearly depleted the opaque global cloud layer so cloudy daylight appeared over the sea late in the 1st day when God said “Let there be light”. And Earth’s rotation from the beginning “separated the light from the darkness” that He called “day and night” (vv4-5).  

Summarizing Earth’s 2nd day: 

Continued cooling of the sea reduced its evaporation and the fully depleted cloud layer stopped the steady torrential rain. Stopping the steady rainfall was to “separate [sea] water from [cloudy atmospheric] water” (v6) to make a global expanse of clear, dry "sky" [1984 NIV] between the sea and the cloud layer above it (v7).

Summarizing Earth’s 3rd day:

God caused dry ground to rise above the sea as a single continent.   This was the previous supercontinent of Pangea according to conventional geology. (See Topical note 3{11}, the Pangea interactive map). Although uniformatarian geology claims there were other supercontinents in Earth’s billions-of-years history, Topical note 4, Earth’s plate tectonics explains why Pangea was the only supercontinent in Earth’s past.  It occupied half of the earth’s surface (below) so raising it doubled the depth of the sea formed from torrential rainfall to its current average of about 2-1/2 miles to the abyssal plain. Huge invaginations in its lengthy coastline produced multiple “seas” as God called them (v10) that included the ancient “Tethys Sea”. Much later, during Noah’s Flood (Topical note 4) plate tectonics split the single continent into the several smaller modern ones that maintained the same total land area and ocean depth.

A small example of dry ground suddenly rising above sea level that shows it can be a natural geologic process was the island of Surtsy south of Iceland in the early 1960s (internet).  Its progress of being populated with life from elsewhere has been extensively studied by scientists since it first appeared and the new island is now covered with vegetation and is home to many species of birds, animals, and insects. However, carefully raising the hemisphere-sized original continent without fragmenting earth’s lithosphere (that happened during Noah’s Flood about two thousand years later) is explained in more detail in the full commentary for the 3^rd day below.     

Then the land produced green photosynthetic vegetation from seeds God planted in the soil (see vv9-13 in full commentary below). At this time, all vegetation formed including unicellular algae, both on land and under water. It started to produce Oxygen gas that would be crucial to support living creatures.  

Summarizing Earth’s 4th day: 

The atmospheric clearing that started at the end of the 1st day continued until the thinned clouds scattered that made the sun, moon, and stars appear in Earth’s sky on the 4th Day. (See the full commentary for vv14-19 below). Then clear, direct sunlight shone on the earth through its partly cloudy skies and produced an abundance of green photosynthetic vegetation and microbes that first appeared on the 3rd day. Seed-bearing plants began growing abundantly everywhere on the land (and under water as well). Oxygen then became an important component of Earth’s atmosphere.  Land plants also transpired abundant water vapor into the atmosphere that trapped it as clouds and returned it as sporadic rainfall.  So, vegetation augmented Earth’s atmospheric water cycle that prevented Earth’s water loss into space.       

The single continent that fully occupied only one of Earth’s hemispheres would have made Earth slightly rotationally unbalanced. Date keeping in Noah’s Flood account in Genesis 6-8 correlated (solar) days with (lunar) months. It implied that before the Flood year the solar year was exactly 12 lunar months of 30 days each{18}. Earth’s slight gravitational imbalance evidently adjusted the perfect synch of the moon’s orbit with the solar year. After the Flood, plate tectonics broke up the supercontinent and distributed the smaller land masses all around the globe.  This smoothed out Earth’s land imbalance and apparently disrupted the exact solar-lunar orbital synch, so lunar months are no longer exactly 30 days and monthly dates for its respective phases change throughout the year.

These events during Earth’s first four days prepared earth to be a habitat for living creatures with conscious awareness that would be created on the fifth and sixth days that followed.

The uniqueness of planet Earth:

Earth is unique among all known planets because of its permanent surface ocean of liquid water and life.  Presumably water on the other planetary bodies in our solar system also naturally came from their hydrated minerals. Only planets that orbit in the habitable zone fairly close to our sun could have liquid surface water- but only Earth benefited from God’s special care (v2c) so that it did! Today the surfaces of Earth’s neighbors Mars and Venus are barren deserts without liquid water and life. However, ground images of Mars from space probes show dry flow channels that appear to be from an ancient watery global ocean that was lost ({10}, and internet source). Mars is less than half of Earth’s diameter and has only 0.1 its volume and mass and is further from the sun. So, Mars evidently naturally cooled sufficiently rapidly after its creation to form a temporary watery ocean- without God’s supernatural cooling that benefited the earth.  Even then its surface remained warm too long so eventually Mars’ water mostly evaporated into space and the remaining water seeped underground where it formed icy deposits at its frigid high latitudes, as recent discoveries show. Venus is only slightly smaller than Earth and is closer to the sun so it remained too hot and might never have had any liquid surface water. Earth is a rare planet that has the right mass and is the right distance from its suitable star (our sun) to support life as we know it.  So after the “beginning” God worked for six days to make Earth habitable and to create and make lower life forms to inhabit it, and lastly humans to rule over it all as Genesis 1:2-28 records.  Then He rested from all of His work on the 7th Day (Genesis 2:2).

Conclusions for Introduction to the Six days:

1. An earth-sized planet with a permanent watery surface ocean is supernatural. 

2. Planet Earth has lower life forms that necessarily support higher intelligent life (Topical note 9, Extraterrestrial life).  So, the Genesis 1 account implies that finding another planet with ONLY lower life forms won’t happen.  Unicellular microorganisms as we know them have complex DNA/RNA based genetics similar to higher plants and animals that were created by God {Topical note 6, Did life evolve?}.

Today some conventional scientists acknowledge that Earth had substantial surface water starting early in its history{8,9}. Space probes recently discovered water geysers on two planetary moons in our solar system, Europa of Jupiter and Enceladas of Saturn, that suggest watery oceans lie below their frozen surfaces{10}. And what appear to be dry flow channels described above are found on Mars which suggests its watery past{10}. NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance is coring what is believed to be an ancient lake bed to cache samples that will be returned to Earth on a future mission and analyze soil for geochemical evidence of previous liquid water, and life's evolution that the creation account in Genesis 1 implies won’t be found (Topical notes 6, 9).   The Perseverance rover has been exploring the floor of Jezero Crater on Mars over two years for chemical evidence of past water and life, and caching rock samples for later return to Earth for analysis. Although spectroscopic signatures of certain minerals were discovered that confirmed the crater’s watery past, so far there is no conclusive evidence for past life there.  Perhaps eventually scientists will find “possible” evidence for ancient life that will justify their mission’s inquiry. Because there is evidence that substantial liquid water was previously on or is currently inside other bodies in our solar system, it’s not hard to understand scientifically that Earth had its home-grown ocean from early on. Some creation geologists claim more water exists in the rocks of Earth’s mantle than is in the surface oceans(27). 

Click live web links to select internet references:

{8} Dorminey, B. Earth Oceans Were Homegrown. Science. Posted on Science.org November 29, 2010. 

{9} Holmes, B. Origin of earth’s water traced back to the birth of our planet. New Scientist. Posted on Newscientist.com, November 12, 2015.

{10} Naeye, Robert, Astronomy magazine, September 2020, "How we'll find life in the universe"; water on Mars, pp20-21, Europa and Enceladas, pp22-23.

{18} Cooper, Bill, June 2009, Acts and Facts, ICR Publ, The calendar and the antiquity of Genesis, p19.

(22) Grossman, Lisa, A meteorite hints how Earth got its water, Science News, December 17 and 31, 2022, p11.

{24} Stephan-Boltzmann equation is: W = εσT4.  W is the radiated energy rate (power) in watts/m2 emitted by a body at a given surface temperature, T in degrees K.  The emissivity is ε and σ is a numeric constant.  Because T is raised to the 4th power, the equation illustrates that even a small temperature decrease requires a very large radiated energy loss. So unnaturally cooling the surface of an earth-sized planet by several hundred degrees in a short period was a major accomplishment.

(27) 2025, Clarey, Tim. Science Scripture and Salvation, Inst. for Creation Research radio broadcast, KWVE FM, January 12. Water in Earth’s mantle rock. 

The Genesis 1 commentary, The six days (vv2-31):

v2. The 1st day-

The first description of Earth in Genesis 1 starts when it was entirely covered with a violent ocean and no dry land, so its surface was FORMLESS.  There was no life so it was EMPTY (or “void”[KJV]), and no sunlight reached the sea (“the deep”) so it was DARK.  The sun (a star) was created as part of the celestial heavens in the “beginning” (v1), but it wasn’t visible from Earth’s surface until the 4th day (see vv14-16 commentary).  Verse 2 stated “darkness was over (Hebrew “ol”) the surface of the deep” that implied Earth had a dark covering.  The simplest natural explanation for the darkness that is consistent with the other events in the 1st and 2nd days was an opaque cloud layer covered the earth{1}. Josephus the first century Jewish historian recorded that then “the earth was hidden in thick darkness”{2} that implied a dense cloud layer blocked the sunlight.  High evaporation from the hot Earth’s hydrated minerals would have formed a thick layer of dense clouds when God accelerated cooling the planet to preserve its water as an ocean reservoir to support future life forms He would create (see “Forming the waters” above for scientific details).

{1} Today, most planets in our solar system are covered by a dense cloud layer, including Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Earth uniquely has partly cloudy skies with abundant water clouds. During violent storms they can be ten miles thick and completely block daylight over large areas of the ground below. So, an opaque cloud layer over the early earth is not unimaginable.

{2} Maier, Paul, 1988, Josephus- The Essential Writings, Kregel Publ. p19. (book)

Although rain wasn’t specifically mentioned in the Genesis 1 account, v2 included a “formless” (liquid) surface, a dark covering, and plural “waters” that all imply wetness was over the earth. And Earth’s sea (“the deep”) implies a needed source of water for it. Heavy rainfall is consistent with all of this. The dark cloud layer was composed of large water droplets that the science of meteorology teaches would naturally fall as rain. The Technical Summary in creation commentary for v1, the Beginning shows scientific details were omitted from the Genesis 1 account so it isn’t significant that rain wasn’t mentioned. The thick cloud layer condensed and produced a steady global torrential rainfall that filled the sea. This was implied by the 2^nd day events in vv6-8 when God separated these “waters” (the rainy clouds from the sea) to produce a gap of clear air between them that He called “sky” [1984NIV]). Verse 2 recorded that God’s Spirit was "hovering over the waters”- above the rain clouds and the sea at this crucial time when He quickly cooled the earth that produced them. His noted presence then suggested He devoted personal attention to begin preparing the earth to be a habitat for future life.  

vv3-5. The 1st day, cont-

God said “let there be light”, and there was light (v3).  Some bible commentators have devised clever ideas for how God might have “created” this light. However, vv3-5 interestingly omit the usual statement that God created or made it, or that He arranged something else to produce it (vv11,12,24). The written Hebrew word used in the S4A internet interlinear bible ("iei") means "is becoming", so this light simply appeared. Verse 1 implies that the distant sun was shining from the "beginning", yet v2 states darkness was over (or covered) the earth. The next day (2nd day, vv6-8) was spent drying Earth’s sky. Together, these scriptural clues and the scientifically logical natural scenario presented in Forming the waters above provide reasonable evidence that the light was caused when the dense cloud layer became depleted after the huge volume of rainwater it lost filled the sea. So, this light was cloudy daylight that illuminated the sea late on Earth’s 1st day, and Earth’s existing rotation from the "beginning" divided it into daily light and dark periods.  Stated in the bible’s majestic literary style, the daily light cycle “separated the light from the darkness” that God called “day” and “night” (vv4-5)[1984 NIV]. The recorded appearance of daylight ended Earth’s 1st day, and evening preceded morning because all was dark before light.

Critics’ objection:

This commentary explained how cloudy sunlight naturally appeared as the clouds thinned on Day 1.  This avoided invoking “supernatural” light from God without the sun starting on Day 1 until it allegedly formed on Day 4 that is supported by strict creationists. See commentary for the 4^th day below.    

vv6-8. The 2nd day- 

Then God apparently carved out a global expanse of clear dry air He called “SKY” [1984 NIV] or atmosphere (Hebrew “rqio”)*, between the sea and the cloud layer. Continued cooling of the warm ocean reduced evaporation so the depleted global clouds stopped raining.  This caused a dry zone of clear sky to form between the sea and the cloud layer above it. Previously, steady rain fell between the clouds and the sea so water in different forms extended continuously from the cloud tops to the ocean bottom. As described in literary style this new expanse of “sky” between the sea and the clouds above was to “separate {sea} water from {atmospheric} water” (v6) [1984 NIV].  Names used in other bible translations for this "expanse" of sky are “firmament” [King James Version, KJV], and “dome”, “vault” [newer NIV]. The English is translated God "made" (Hebrew "iosh")* the expanse of clear sky, but it evidently appeared when rainwater was removed from the wet air.

*S4A Hebrew online interlinear bible

 vv9-13. The 3^rd day-

Cloudy daylight illuminated the ocean during daytime hours and the global torrential rainfall had stopped.  God caused DRY LAND to appear as a single continent. Many creation scientists believe this was the ancient land mass that conventional geology calls Pangea that occupied one complete hemisphere of the earth. (Conventional geologists suppose Pangea was only the most recent super continent and others preceded it, however Genesis 1 records this was the original one.) God called the water “seas” that He “gathered” into one place when dry ground appeared (v10). Huge invaginations in its lengthy coastline produced multiple “seas” that included the ancient “Tethys Sea”. Wording of the bible text suggests geologic processes within the earth lowered the sea floor around the area where the new continent would be that caused dry ground within it to rebound and rise above sea level.  This action avoided cracking the earth’s lithosphere. (That occurred 2200 years later during Noah’s Flood and began Earth’s plate tectonics.)  The Summary of Days 1-4 above hinted making a hemisphere-size land mass of dry ground appear on the 3^rd day could have resulted from God rapidly cooling the earth’s interior asymmetrically early on Day 1. More is explained about the ancient supercontinent of Pangea in Topical note 3, and its breakup into today’s smaller continents by plate tectonics during Noah's Flood is covered in Topical note 4.

After the torrential rain stopped and dry land appeared God had the land produce VEGETATION- seed-bearing plants and trees according to their various kinds*. Notice that previously stopping the continuous heavy rain prevented washing sprouting plants into the ocean! So, God used this logical event sequence in His creation account. Genesis 2:8 implies these first land plants grew from seeds God planted in the soil, so God evidently made seeds before plants.  Vegetation would provide Oxygen (below), food, and habitat.  Land seed plants were recorded because they would be most important as food for humans (v29).  Other plants, including fungi that reproduce without “seeds”, and underwater plants (as food for marine and aquatic creatures starting in Day 5) would have also sprouted then.  Microscopic aquatic and marine algae were also made. “Made” was used here and not “created” because these plants grew from nutrients in the soil, water, and air- not from “nothing”. And plants don’t have a consciousness that creatures have that God created in Days 5 and 6 below. Although plants have biological compositions and DNA genomes similar to animals, and they also metabolize, grow, repair damage, and reproduce, Genesis 1 doesn’t refer to plants as “living”, but merely as “vegetation” in vv11,12. God made plants to be things of beauty and as food for creatures and humans (Genesis 1:29-30, Genesis 2:9).

According to Genesis 2:6 water from pressurized subterranean sources first watered the land for plant life after the continuous global rain stopped. Verse 5 implied that scattered rain fell when plants were actively growing. Increased evaporation from transpiring plants growing rapidly everywhere in the intense sunlight starting on the 4^th day caused scattered clouds to form that brought intermittent rainfall on the land as part of Earth’s water cycle (above). Plants both require rain and assist producing it.

Importantly, photosynthetic land plants started producing Oxygen gas that accumulated in earth’s atmosphere and would become abundant in the brighter, direct sunlight starting on the 4^th Day. Land plants were the most visible and the food source for humans so they were described in the account, but all green “vegetation” formed on this day, including the largely overlooked unicellular algae, both on land and under water.  The Oxygen gas they produced would accumulate in the atmosphere, and dissolve in lake and ocean water to crucially support all living creatures. Discussion of plant growth and rainfall continues after the commentaries on Day 4 (below) and in Genesis 2.

* What is a biblical “kind”? 

“According to their kinds” in Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, and 24 means vegetation (Day 3), sea creatures and birds (Day 5), and land creatures (Day 6) reproduce only their "kind".  For example wheat plants always reproduce wheat, never barley; and elephants always reproduce elephants, never a giraffe. Each “kind” of organism was separately originated by God. A biblical kind is a group of similar-looking* organisms that evidently is broader than the species designation of man’s scientific taxonomy. Each kind has the complete fixed genome to produce all the different varieties of organisms within its “kind”.  Human taxonomic classification was historically based on organism morphology (appearance) and the “species” designation was believed to be the inter-breeding unit. However, it was recently discovered that many animals of different humanly assigned species can interbreed (but normally don't). So, these organisms have gene pools that can produce wider varieties of themselves than humans expected because interbreeding has been tested on only a tiny fraction of Earth’s organisms. A biblical “kind” is more fully compared with a taxonomic “species” in Topical note 6.

*Note: Calling similar organisms "related" uses evolutionary jargon that Genesis 1 doesn't teach.

vv14-19. The 4th day-

God made the celestial luminaries (SUN, MOON*, and STARS) appear in Earth’s sky as signs to mark seasons, days, and years and to give light on the earth.  The planets which look like stars in the sky would have appeared then, too.  Verse 1 in Genesis 1 implied all these luminaries were "created" (from nothing) in the “beginning” as part of the celestial heavens.  This seems to conflict with v16 here that stated they were "made" (Hebrew “iosh”)** on the 4^th Day.  However, the careful study below of these verses explains where and how these luminaries were made that eliminates this conflict.

*Most bible versions refer to the sun and moon as the “greater” and “lesser” lights in these verses.  

**Scripture4All Hebrew online interlinear bible is cited for these verses.

Where were the celestial luminaries “made” on the 4th Day? 

Verse 1 records the “heavens” (Hebrew “shimim”) were created in the beginning.  Telescopic discoveries show the visible celestial heavens are composed mostly of stars, and Psalm 33:6 refered to the heavens as the “starry host”.  Evidently their light was blocked from Earth on its 1^st Day by an opaque cloud cover over its sky until the 4^th Day when v17 recorded the celestial luminaries were “set” [NIV] (Hebrew “ithm”) in Earth’s sky. Verses 14 and 15 call “sky” (Hebrew “rqio”) of the heavens (Hebrew “shimim”), or Earth’s “atmospheric heavens”.  This meant the luminaries appeared in Earth’s atmospheric heavens, but they weren’t formed in the celestial heavens (outer space) then.  This somewhat confusing Hebrew described the appearance of the sun, moon, and the stars on the 4^th Day as an atmospheric phenomenon in Earth’s sky.

How were the celestial luminaries "made"{1} in Earth’s sky on Day 4 (v16)?

Telescopic discoveries show the sun is a star and the stars are very distant suns in the celestial heavens. Spectroscopic observations show they are extremely hot glowing plasmas. Astronomers claim they are certainly powered by nuclear fusion. So they are constructed very differently from the much cooler moon and planets of our solar system which telescopic observations show are solid bodies that shine in the sky by reflected sunlight. That these diverse kinds of celestial luminaries all suddenly appeared in earth’s sky fully formed on Day 4 strongly suggests a common scientific cause.  The simplest natural explanation that is consistent with the events of Days 1-2 was something above the sky that blocked their light was removed. Evidently Earth’s atmospheric global cloud cover (Genesis 1:7-8) continued to thin after Day 1 until it scattered on Day 4 to be like it is today, which caused the celestial luminaries to appear in the sky-      

Critics' objections:

Verses 16 and 17 record that God is making (written Hebrew “iosh”) the greater and lesser lights (sun and moon) to rule the day and night and the stars and He “is placing” (Hebrew “ithn”) them in the “atmosphere of the heavens” (Hebrew “rqio e.shimim”, meaning sky) to give light on the earth. These Hebrew verses mean God made the sun, moon, and stars to rule the day and night and He set them in earth’s sky to give light on the earth.  Notice this does not mean that God fabricated the sun, moon, and stars in the celestial heavens on the earth's 4^th day (after they were previously created), as many have traditionally interpreted these verses to mean.

This use of English made (Hebrew “iosh”) on Day 4 is like its use on Day 2: In both cases the objects that were "made" (celestial luminaries and clear sky) previously existed but they were obscured by clouds or rainwater.  When the obscuring material was removed the objects appeared.  The meaning of v14 was- let these luminaries (Hebrew “iei”, “become”) or appear in the sky.  This same Hebrew verb “iei” (become) was used in Day 1 v3 to describe the first appearance of light (on the sea), and dry land appearing on Day 4 that rose above the sea.  So light, clear sky, dry land, and celestial luminaries all “appeared”, but they weren’t actually fabricated on these days.  

A gradual atmospheric clearing occurred during Days 1-4 that explained the evening-morning daylight cycle that started late on the 1^st day and how green photosynthetic plants first obtained hazy daylight through thinned cloud cover on the 3rd day.  Starting on the 4^th day, bright direct sunlight illuminated the earth's surface in the daytime through scattered clouds. This clearing smoothly and scientifically explains the appearance of the sun, moon, and stars in vv14-18.  Enhanced sunlight produced abundant plant growth for necessary breathable oxygen and food needed by creatures and humans starting on Days 5 and 6.  

{1} Although English "made" appears twice in these verses, the original Hebrew text uses "iosh" only once, so repetition of "made" in English has no special significance. 

{2} Maier, Paul, 1988, Josephus- The Essential Writings, Kregel publ. p19. (book)   

vv20-23. The 5th day-

After direct daytime sunlight shone on the sea and dry land on Day 4, God created (Hebrew “ibra”) living SEA CREATURES and BIRDS that have a conscious awareness in bodies that had three-dimensional mobility.  Nothing like them existed before so they were totally unique and "created" was used.  Bible text uses "teem" or in “abundance” which suggests that many mating pairs* of each kind were produced to quickly occupy their environments. God blessed the sea creatures and birds to multiply and fill the earth. According to Jewish historian Josephus, during this early period God spoke to the creatures, and the humans starting on the 6^th day, in a common language so they understood Him and scripture implied they initially obeyed what He commanded them**.

*The sea creatures and birds as well as the land animals in vv24-25 below were created as male and female pairs but it was not specifically stated here. Later, Genesis 6:19 records they were separate genders. 

**See the Josephus' footnotes after the Genesis 2:18-25 commentary, and Cain’s marriage in Highlights of Genesis 4, and Introducing Jewish Historian Josephus in Authorship of the Hebrew Law.  

vv24-25. The 6th day-

Then God had the LAND produce other living CREATURES- land animals and creatures that move along the ground.  The consciousness that inhabited their bodies was the same kind as the earlier sea creatures and birds (not like humans that were created in God’s image, below), so it wasn’t uniquely new, and only “made” (written Hebrew "iosh") that referred to their bodies was recorded in the text. 

Letting "the land produce living creatures" (v24) and forming them “out of the ground" as recorded in Genesis 2:19 is a literary style description that might incorrectly produce visual imagery of them crawling out of the ground. Instead, restating this description in scientific terms, the animals’* bodies were made from the atomic elemental ingredients of earth’s soil. Genesis 2:7 records humans were made from earth’s “dust” (Hebrew “ophr”) but some bible versions translate it “soil” or “slime” that includes its water content because the bodies of creatures and humans are mostly water. And God stated in Genesis 3:19 humans would return to the ground (after their deaths) because they were taken from dust and to dust they would return.  Soil consists of Earth’s elemental materials that includes carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and various minerals and water- the basic building blocks of biochemical macro-molecules, cells, and living tissues.  God brilliantly designed the nucleic acids, DNA and RNA within their cells that encodes genetic information to maintain and reproduce all microbes, plants, and the bodies of living creatures and humans. Yet, their genetics is flexible enough to preserve their “kinds” during normal environmental changes (see Topical note 6, Micro-evolution within species). And God also had the power to make it all!

* and also the earlier sea creatures and birds.

Early scientists who studied living things marveled that organisms could reproduce and repair themselves, unlike nonliving things. Some theorized unique materials made up their “protoplasm” which followed different natural laws.  However, Genesis had it right!- Earth’s same materials form the bodies of organisms that come from the ground and then necessarily decompose and return to it to be recycled after their deaths (Genesis 3:19).  More related details about the 6th day are recorded in Genesis 2:7,15-25.

vv26-27. The 6th day, con’t-

God’s plurality (“let us…”) created and made mankind (v26). Then Verse 27 states God’s unity created them in “his own” image, male and female[NIV].  The humans were created spiritually as God’s "kind".  God is a spirit and is often referred to as “He” in the scriptures, however v27 implied God’s image has aspects of both human genders.  The humans’ fewness (one pair) suggested that He would give them personal attention unlike the multitude of pairs of each creature kind.  Summarizing vv26-27, God has both singular and plural natures, and He has both male and female attributes.  The nature of God is concisely explained in more detail using referenced information sources in the commentary, Genesis 1: Origin and Authorship.        

Human consciousness was created in God’s image and likeness:

What are God's image and likeness?

Human behavior innately possesses (and normally outwardly shows) a nobility, and spiritual perception to understand God's ways, that are both beyond animals’: this is “God’s image”. Humans can also reason and choose to respond to God’s commands and adopt His moral values: this is “God’s likeness”.  Illumination for the intended meaning of “image” and “likeness” is provided by similar Hebrew word usage in Genesis 5:3 that describes the spiritual resemblances of Adam and his later son, Seth.

Humans are both spiritual and material:

Human consciousness was created spiritually different from creatures’ and fit for companionship with God who created (Hebrew “ibra” and “bra”) their consciousness from nothing. Human consciousness is similar to the angels in heaven who can understand God’s ways, however, humans also have temporary physical bodies that were formed (made) from the ground like the creatures’ bodies (Genesis 2:7,19) to live in the physical universe that God created (v1).  However, human bodies are more finely made than animals’ bodies to express their higher consciousness. An example is human hands are innervated by many more muscles than ape hands that give them finer dexterity suitable for use by their higher intellect. So a human can assemble and repair a fine mechanical Swiss watch, but an ape cannot. Many biblical anthropomorphisms compare human bodily anatomy with God’s spiritual anatomy: (Genesis 2:7-breath, 6:6-heart; Exodus 24:10-feet, 31:18-finger,  33:20-face, 22-hand, 23-back; Deuteronomy 4:25-eyes, 11:2-arm; Psalm 33:6-mouth). So, both human consciousness and their bodies innately have God’s “image”. 

What is God's substance?

Although humans were created in God’s image they were not of God’s substance (Nicene creed, Genesis 1, Origin and Authorship). So humans lack God’s powers of omnipresence (to be everywhere simultaneously) and omniscience (to be all-knowing), and His ability to create things ex nihilo. Only members of the triune Godhead have God’s substance with these powers.

God’s likeness is a free-will choice:

However, when left to themselves humans can choose to become depraved and lose God's “likeness”.   Therefore, human “likeness” to God by adopting His moral values and keeping His commands (as described in the books of the Hebrew Law and the New Testament) is a free-will choice that can be lost by making ungodlike choices (Genesis 2:17, 3:6). Humans who are in God's image can choose to become depraved and lose God's likeness. So, the new humans had to decide whether to remain in God’s “likeness”- what did they do? (See Genesis chapter 3.)

What do humans and creatures have in common?  Humans and creatures both have a consciousness awareness of their physical surroundings as evidenced by reactions to sensory stimuli and memory capacity to learn through experience. And they both can reproduce themselves.  They both communicate ideas using sounds they can make. They both have a free-will to choose behavior and they sometimes fight and even kill others. God punishes behavior of both humans and animals that is offensive to Him (Genesis 3:14-19, 9:5-6).    

What makes humans different from creatures?  Humans have the largest brains (in proportion to their body size) which are suited to express their superior conscious intellects. Their brain is coupled to versatile, uniquely agile prehensile hands fit to build intricate devices to manipulate their environment.  Humans study nature, as “science”, to develop new sophisticated methods (technology) to continually improve their living standard. Today, only humans speak complete languages and most people groups also have developed written language to pass on their knowledge for succeeding generations to build on.  Specifically, they use their technology to make (and repair) possessions they own, including clothing, weapons, implements to prepare and store food, transport themselves, and measure time.  They ponder over events both before and after their lifetimes, even their own death.  Unlike animals, humans have a spiritual perception of the supernatural realm. They are capable of letting their intellects and religious faiths govern their lives (according to their likeness to God), whereas animals lack spiritual perception. Animal lives are governed primarily by their physical drives, although they display some altruistic behavior. Nearly all human cultures express their spirituality by worshipping God(s), burying their dead, developing formal religions, and following superstitious practices.

vv28-31. The 6th day, con’t-

God commanded the sea and land animals. birds, and humans to eat green plants for food (v30). Humans specifically were to eat seed-bearing plants (their grain, roots, leaves) and fruits from trees (v29).   So, originally they all were vegetarians. God blessed the humans on the 6th day and He charged them to populate the earth and rule over the creatures (benevolently, as He surely intended).  

This creation account concluded in Genesis 2:1-3 with God resting on the 7th day after He finished making the barren planet earth into a habitat with humans and other living creatures.  The accounts about the human couple and their early descendants continue in Genesis chapters 2-5.

Other topics related to the Genesis 1 creation account:

Origin of carnivorous and parasitic lifestyles

God saw that all He had made in these six days was good- it worked together harmoniously as He intended- vv10,12,18,21,25,31). However, both humans and creatures have a free-will. When left to themselves after mankind’s Fall in Genesis 3 God withdrew His fellowship from the ruling humans. Then nearly all of them chose to become violent. God originally commanded that all creatures and humans eat only from the green plants (vv29-30), but many creatures and humans disobeyed. Scripture implied some early humans ate meat (Genesis 4:12,20) and the fossil record has caught pre-Flood animals killing and eating other animals (internet sources). So, God was sorry He made them (Genesis 4:8, 6:7). It was not until over 2000 years later, after Noah’s Flood that God specifically allowed Noah’s descendants who were evidently still vegetarians then to eat meat (Genesis 9:3). The biological “tools” that many organisms originally inherited from their creation became used for other purposes by their free-will choices that God did not intend. Then genetic mechanisms perfected these tools for their new violent uses (Topical note 6, Micro-evolution within species).

The following partial list shows how some animals learned to live off of other animals and humans: Many animals and sea creatures that inherited long, pointed teeth became monstrous carnivores that killed and fed on other animals as the fossil record and modern life show.  Dentition per se didn’t make these animals obligate carnivores.  Modern animals with sharp teeth including bears, and alligators and crocodiles can eat fruits and veggies.  Giant pandas have sharp teeth but use them to eat bamboo almost exclusively. Otherwise defenseless creatures that used their originally sub-lethal painful bites and stings for self-defense became carnivorous hunters: micro-evolution within species developed stronger venoms that killed prey and attackers. Female mosquitoes that originally only sucked plant juices with their piercing mouth parts craved animal blood for their developing eggs.  They target carbon dioxide to locate food that both flowers and animals produce.  Today, female parasitic wasps methodically kill their insect and spider victims as a food source for their developing eggs. The ancestors of microbial parasites and viruses that cause sickness in humans and animals today were originally free-living organisms that infected only plants and other microbes and prevented their overgrowth. Some of these microbes and small invertebrates, especially worms, later became internal parasites in animals and humans, or their reproductive means caused disease or death of their hosts. Internal parasites developed as opportunists that entered human and animal bodies when they ingested their eggs in meat and animal products that were not allowed as food by God, and by infecting wounds that were caused by violent human and animal lifestyles. 

Why did humans potentially live so long soon after their creation?

Genesis 5 recorded humans before Noah’s Flood lived for nearly 1000 years. The newly created humans had no genetic defects, Earth's stronger magnetic field that on average doubles every 1400 years backwards in time (Topical note 4{49,50}) then better shielded genetic mutation-inducing cosmic rays, and there were no toxic environmental pollutants. Originally humans and creatures ate only from green plants as was recorded in v29 rather than animal meat and their products, which hindered later-developing animal pathogens from infecting them.  The worldwide land climate was tropical then- fossil plants and animals that are associated with Earth’s tropical lands today were found at high latitudes of the ancient supercontinent of Pangea (Topical note 5 {1,2}). Topical note 3- Fossil humans, and Topical note 4- Plate tectonics cover more about Pangea. However, humans and animals became increasingly violent during pre-Flood times so many lives were cut short (Genesis 4:10, 23-24, 6:5-6).

Were the large dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus rex contemporaneous with humans?

Yes, dinosaurs were reptile land animals created on the 6^th day (the same as the humans in v26) so they were contemporaneous with pre-Flood humans.  Dinosaur fossils were distinguished from other reptiles by having one of two characteristic pelvic forms (named saurischian or ornithischian) that could support massive bodies. Humans would have avoided these threatening reptiles and kept them away from their settlements especially after some of them later became carnivorous (above).  However, fossils of the giant theropod dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus rex, are today found only in the Americas which were in the western Pangea supercontinent before Noah’s Flood (Topical note 3, {11}Pangea interactive map}. So, these carnivorous giants were geographically isolated by thousands of miles from possibly all humans who were concentrated in eastern Pangea near Eden (Genesis 2:8), Nod Genesis 4:16), and the nearby five cities of pre-Flood Mesopotamia on the Sumerian King List (Topical notes 3, 4). So, fossils of giant theropod dinosaurs and pre-Flood humans (Homo erectus, Topical note 3) are not found together.  Because of their violent carnivorous habits, the giant theropods weren’t saved on Noah’s Ark so they all died in the Flood (Genesis 6:7, Topical note 4). No mention of them was made in Genesis.  However, the account in the Book of Job that originated several centuries after the Flood (see Authorship of the Hebrew Law, the Book of Job) described “behemoth” (40:15-24) that by its description seemed to be large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur. Also, some images of herbivorous sauropods and a stegosaurus are engraved in medieval religious art so evidently God caused pairs of them to migrate to the ark to be saved during the global Flood (Topical note 4).   

Conclusion for Genesis 1:

The Genesis 1: Origin and Authorship commentary explained that Genesis 1 was described in non-scientific terms specifically for ancient people who were not scientifically educated. Some supernatural events were necessary to create the universe, make the earth habitable, and to create and make life forms.

However, the two Creation commentaries (for v1, and vv2-31) explained the Genesis 1 creation account is rational and understandable when using correct bible verse interpretations and word meanings, and it doesn’t conflict with modern observational science and ancient history. 

Observational science includes the demonstrable laboratory sciences that include physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, and biology, but not the consensus sciences of evolutionary speciation, uniformatarian geology, and astrophysics that depend on “deep time” radiometric dating.       

So, the creation account in Genesis 1 may reasonably be accepted as factual- not a fabricated “myth”, a “fable” (or a code) as many believe. The commentaries for the next chapters in Genesis and topical notes also provide scientific and historical evidence they are factual.

Topical notes 3,6,7, and 8 explain fossil humans, evolution, scientific dating, and descriptive astrophysics, respectively, that further illuminate the Genesis 1 account with proven modern science and ancient history. An internet video that introduces the Topical notes of this study is recommended viewing{1}. 

Click live web link to view video {1}:

{1} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM82qxxskZE

(Open link, then click arrow to start the video, and skip ad.)

The creation science organization, Is Genesis History? presents this informative less than 2 hr free video. 

{6} Olsen, Knut, Astronomy magazine, Tale of Two Galaxies, November 2020, p19

{7}https://faculty.wts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Poythress-Genesis-1.1.pdf  (comparison of “initiation” and “summary” views of Genesis 1)

{8} Dorminey, B. Earth Oceans Were Homegrown. Science. Posted on Science.org November 29, 2010. 

{9} Holmes, B. Origin of earth’s water traced back to the birth of our planet. New Scientist. Posted on Newscientist.com, November 12, 2015.

{10} Naeye, Robert, Astronomy magazine, September 2020, "How we'll find life in the universe"; water on Mars, pp20-21, Europa and Enceladas, pp22-23.

{18} Cooper, Bill, June 2009, Acts and Facts, ICR Publ, The calendar and the antiquity of Genesis, p19.

{24} Stephan-Boltzmann equation is: W = εσT4.  W is the radiated energy rate (power) in watts/m2 emitted by a body at a given surface temperature, T in degrees K.  The emissivity is ε and σ is a numeric constant.  Because T is raised to the 4th power, the equation illustrates that even a small temperature decrease requires a very large radiated energy loss. So unnaturally cooling the surface of an earth-sized planet by several hundred degrees in a short period was a major accomplishment.

W. Cook

Independent researcher April 2026

Contact: genesismakessense@gmail.com

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