1:1 In the a beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
The Argument - Moses in effect declares three things, which are
in this book chiefly to be considered: First, that the world
and all things in it were created by God, and to praise his
Name for the infinite graces, with which he had endued him,
fell willingly from God through disobedience, who yet for his
own mercies sake restored him to life, and confirmed him in
the same by his promise of Christ to come, by whom he should
overcome Satan, death and hell. Secondly, that the wicked,
unmindful of God's most excellent benefits, remained still in
their wickedness, and so falling most horribly from sin to
sin, provoked God (who by his preachers called them
continually to repentance) at length to destroy the whole
world. Thirdly, he assures us by the examples of Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob and the rest of the patriarchs, that his mercies
never fail those whom he chooses to be his Church, and to
profess his Name in earth, but in all their afflictions and
persecutions he assists them, sends comfort, and delivers
them, so that the beginning, increase, preservation and
success of it might be attributed to God only. Moses shows by
the examples of Cain, Ishmael, Esau and others, who were
noble in man's judgment, that this Church depends not on the
estimation and nobility of the world: and also by the fewness
of those, who have at all times worshipped him purely
according to his word that it stands not in the multitude,
but in the poor and despised, in the small flock and little
number, that man in his wisdom might be confounded, and the
name of God praised forever.
(a) First of all, and before any creature was, God made
heaven and earth out of nothing.
1:2 And the earth was b without form, and void; and c
darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of
God d moved upon the face of the waters.
(b) As an unformed lump and without any creature in it: for
the waters covered everything.
(c) Darkness covered the deep waters, for the waters covered
everything.
(d) He maintained this disordered mass by his secret power.
1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was e light.
(e) The light was made before either Sun or Moon was
created: therefore we must not attribute that to the
creatures that are God's instruments, which only belong
to God.
1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which
[were] f under the firmament from the waters which [were]
above the firmament: and it was so.
(f) As the sea and rivers, from those waters that are in the
clouds, which are upheld by God's power, least they
should overwhelm the world.
1:8 And God called the firmament g Heaven. And the evening
and the morning were the second day.
(g) That is, the region of the air, and all that is above
us.
1:11 And God said, h Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after
his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it
was so.
(h) So that we see it is the only the power of God's word
that makes the earth fruitful, which naturally is
barren.
1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed
after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed
[was] in itself, after his kind: and God i saw that [it
was] good.
(i) This sentence is often repeated, to signify that God
made all his creatures to serve for his glory and for
the profit of man: but because of sin they were cursed,
yet the elect, by Christ are restored, and serve to
their wealth.
1:14 And God said, Let there be k lights in the firmament of
the heaven to l divide the day from the night; and let
them be for m signs, and for seasons, and for days, and
years:
(k) By the lights be means the sun, the moon, and the
stars.
(l) Which is the artificial day, from the sun rising, to
the going down.
(m) Of things belonging to natural and political orders and
seasons.
1:16 And God made two great n lights; the greater light to o
rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he
made] the stars also.
(n) That is, the sun and the moon, and here he speaks as
man judges by his eye: for else the moon is less than
the planet Saturn.
(o) To give it sufficient light, as instruments appointed
for the same, to serve man's purposes.
1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the p
moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
(p) As fish and worms which slide, swim or creep.
1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature
that moveth, which the q waters brought forth abundantly,
after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and
God saw that [it was] good.
(q) The fish and fowls had both one beginning, in which we
see that nature gives place to God's will, in that the
one sort is made to fly about in the air, and the other
to swim beneath in the water.
1:22 And God r blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl
multiply in the earth.
(r) That is, by the virtue of his word he gave power to his
creatures to reproduce.
1:26 And God said, s Let us make man in our t image, after
our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth.
(s) God commanded the water and the earth to bring forth
other creatures: but of man he says, "Let us make..."
signifying that God takes counsel with his wisdom and
virtue purposing to make an excellent work above all
the rest of his creation.
(t) This image and likeness of God in man is expounded in
(Eph 4:24) where it is written that man was created
after God in righteousness and true holiness meaning by
these two words, all perfection, as wisdom, truth,
innocency, power, etc.
1:28 And God u blessed them, and God said unto them, Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth.
(u) The propagation.
1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you x every herb
bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth,
and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree
yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
