Albert Barnes Commentary Genesis 1:6-8

"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day." — Genesis 1:6-8 (ASV)

1. רקיע rāqı̂ya‛ — “expanse;” στερέωμα stereōma — רקע rāqa‛ — “spread out by beating, as leaf gold.” This expanse was not understood to be solid, as birds are said to fly on its face (Genesis 1:21). It is also described as luminous (Daniel 12:3), and as a monument of divine power (Psalms 150:1).

2. עשׂה ‛ āśâh “work on,” “make out of already existing materials.”

The second act of creative power bears upon the deep of waters, over which the darkness had prevailed, and by which the solid crust was still overlaid. This mass of turbid and noisy water must be reduced to order and confined within certain limits before the land can be reached. According to the laws of material nature, light or heat must be an essential factor in all physical changes, especially in the production of gases and vapors. Therefore, its presence and activity are the first thing required in instituting a new process of nature. Air naturally takes the next place, as it is equally essential to the maintenance of vegetable and animal life. Hence, its adjustment is the second step in this latest effort of creation.

Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water. — (Genesis 1:6). For this purpose God now calls into existence the expanse. This is that interval of space between the earth on one side and the birds on the wing, the clouds, and the heavenly bodies on the other, the lower part of which we know to be occupied by the air. This will appear more clearly from a comparison of other passages in this chapter (Genesis 1:14, Genesis 1:20).

And let it be dividing between water and water. — It appears that the water in a liquid state was in contact with another mass of water, in the shape of dense fogs and vapors, not merely overhanging but actually resting on the waters beneath. The object of the expanse is to divide the waters which are under it from those which are above it.

Therefore, it appears that what was really done was not to create the space that extends indefinitely above our heads (which, being in itself nothing, but only room for things, requires no creating), but to establish in it the intended arrangement of the waters into two separate masses: one above, and the other below the intervening expanse.

We know this is accomplished by means of the atmosphere, which receives a large body of water in the state of vapor and holds up a visible portion of it in the form of clouds. These ever-returning and ever-varying piles of mist strike the eye of the ordinary observer. When the dew is observed on the grass, or showers of rain, hail, and snow are seen falling on the ground, the conclusion is obvious: that above the expanse, whether the distance is small or great, an unseen and inexhaustible treasury of water is stored, by which the earth may be perpetually watered and irrigated.

The water vapor itself, as well as the element with which it is mixed, is invisible and intangible. However, when condensed by cold, it becomes visible in the form of mists and clouds and, at a certain point of coolness, begins to deposit itself in the tangible form of dew, rain, hail, or snow. As soon as it becomes perceptible to the senses, it receives distinguishing names according to its varying forms. But the air, being invisible, is unnoticed by the early observer until it is put in motion, when it receives the name of wind. The space it occupies is merely called the expanse—that is, the interval between us and the various bodies that float above and hang upon nothing, or nothing perceptible to the eye.

The state of things before this creative movement may be called one of disturbance and disorder, in comparison with the present condition of the atmosphere. This disturbance in the relations of air and water was so great that it could not be reduced to the present order without a supernatural cause.

We are not informed whether any other gases, noxious or innocuous, entered into the composition of the previous atmosphere, or whether any other ingredients were once held in solution by the watery deep. It is not stated whether any volcanic or plutonic violence had disturbed the scene and raised a dense mass of gaseous damp and sooty matter into the airy region.

We cannot tell how far the disorder extended. We are merely certain that it reached over all the land known to humans during the interval between this creation and the deluge.

Whether this disorder was temporary or long-standing, and whether the change was accomplished by altering the axis of the earth’s rotation (and thus the climate of the land of primeval man) or by a less extensive movement confined to the region under consideration, are questions on which we receive no instruction, because the solution does not concern our well-being. As soon as human welfare becomes connected in any way with such knowledge, it will by some means be made attainable.

The introduction of the expanse produced a vast change for the better on the surface of the earth. The heavy mass of murky damp and water vapor mixing with the abyss of waters beneath is cleared away. The fogs are lifted up to the higher regions of the sky or thinned into an invisible vapor. A leaden mass of clouds still overshadows the heavens. But a breathing space of pure, pellucid air now intervenes between the upper and lower waters, enveloping the surface of the earth and suited for the breathing of the flora and fauna of a new world.

Let it be noted that the word “be” is here again used to denote the beginning of a new adjustment of the atmosphere. This, accordingly, does not imply the absolute creation of our present atmosphere on the second day. It merely indicates its formation out of materials already at hand: the selecting and due allocation of the proper elements; the removal of all now foreign elements to their own places; the dissipation of the stagnant, oppressive mists; and the establishment of clear and pure air suitable for future humans. Any or all of these alterations will satisfy the form of expression used here.

Then God made the expanse. — (Genesis 1:7). Here the distinction between command and execution is made even more prominent than in the third verse. For the word of command stands in one verse, and the effect realized is related in the next. Indeed, we have the doing of the thing and the thing done separately expressed. For, after stating that God made the expanse, it is added, “and it was so.” The work accomplished took a permanent form, in which it remained a lasting monument of divine wisdom and power.

Then God called the expanse, heaven. — (Genesis 1:8). This expanse is, then, the true and original sky. We have here an interesting and instructive example of the way in which words expand in their significance from the near, the simple, the obvious, to the far and wide, the complex, and the inferential. Heaven, in the first instance, meant the open space above the surface in which we breathe and move, where birds fly and clouds float. This is the atmosphere. Then it stretches away into the seemingly boundless regions of space, in which countless luminous and opaque orbs revolve.

Then “the heavens” comes to signify the contents of this vastly expanded expanse—the celestial luminaries themselves. Then, by a still further enlargement of its meaning, we rise to the heaven of heavens, the inexpressibly grand and august presence-chamber of the Most High, where the cherubim and seraphim, the innumerable company of angels, and the myriads of saints move in their respective ranks and realms, serving their Maker and experiencing the joy of their existence. This is the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2), to the conception of which the imaginative capacity of the human mind rises by an easy progression. Having once attained this majestic conception, one is then prepared to conceive and compose that sublime sentence with which the book of God opens: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

The expanse, or aerial space, in which this arrangement of things has been accomplished, having received its appropriate name, is recognized as a completed fact, and the second day is closed.