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NOTES

ON THE

Book of GENESIS

CHAP. I.

The ARGUMENT.

This Chapter gives an account of the Creation of the World, and the feveral parts of it, as alfo of the order in which they were made and diftinguished, with the ufe and intention of them. Here is also a particular account of the Creation of Man in the Image of God, and of the food which his Creator appointed him.

1.TN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

1.

IN the beginning: That is, in the beginning of time, Heb. 1. 10. Created: That is, made out of nothing, Heb. 11.3. or, gave a being to things which had no fuch being before. The Heaven and the Earth; or, the World: In the Scripture-phrafe the Heaven and Earth are used to express what is otherwife called the World or Universe. God that made the World, and all things therein, feeing that he is Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwelleth not in Temples made with hands, Act. 17.24. See 2 Pet. 3.5,6,7.

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2. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

2. Without form and void: That is, a confufed and indigested heap, and not as yet replenished with its ftore and ornaments,

(Jer.4.23. Wifd. 11. 17. Ifa. 45. 18.) with which it was afterward adorned and replenished, Gen.2.1. Pfalm 24. I. Face of the deep: That is, the Surface of the confufed bulk, and deep heap of Earth and Water. The Spirit of God moved, &c. That is, the Divine Spirit did, by moving on the waters, operate toward the order and ornament of what was confufed before. By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens, fays Job, ch. 26.13. What we render moved, is obferved to fignifie a keeping warm, or fuch a cherishing as feathered fowls afford unto their young. Such an expreffion is not unfuitable to a Divine perfon, (Deut.32. 11, 12. with Exod. 19.4.) and agrees very well with what we are elsewhere taught of the Divine Spirit, or Third Perfon of the Holy Trinity, of whofe over-fhadowing, and defcending like a Dove, we read elsewhere, Matt. 3.16. Luk.1.35. Compare Pfal. 104. 30.

3. And God faid, Let there be light: and there was light.

3. Said: That is, commanded. See v 6,7. He fpake, and

it was done; (Pfal. 33.9.) he commanded, and it stood faft. Compare Pfal. 33.6. and Pfal. 148. 5. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Heb. 11.3. Light: That is, fome lucid body; for the Lights, or Luminaries, were not created till the fourth day, v. 14.

4. And God faw the light, that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness:

4. Saw: i. e. He approved. See v. 31. Good: i. e. Agreeable to what he defigned,

and for the ufe of the world. Divided,&c. ie. He placed the Light in a separate place from the reft of the Creation which remained dark.

3. And God called the light, Day, and the darkness he called, Night: and the evening and the morning were the first day.

5. The evening and the morning: That is, the preceding darknefs and following light: Hence the Jews natural

natural day began in the Evening, Lev.23.32. First day. Or, One day, as in the Hebrew, there being as yet no Second. Though it be also very common in the holy Scripture that the Cardinal one,&c. is put for the Ordinal firft,&c. number, as in Gen.8.5. Dan.8.1. Joh.20.1.

6. And God faid, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7. 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 fo.

6. A Firmament? That is, an extended Air, ftretched out like a Curtain, Pf. 104.2: Ifa.40.22. 42.5.

7. Under the Fir mament: viz. in the Seas and Rivers, c viz. in the Clouds, Above the Firmament: which are faid thereCompare Prov.8.28.)

fore to cover the Heaven, (Pfal.147.8. that is, the Air or lower Heaven. Compare 2 Sam. 21.10. 8. And God called the firmament, Heaven: and the evening and the morning were the fecond day.

9. And God faid, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land ap pear: and it was fo.

10. And God called the dry land, Earth: and the gathering together of the waters called he, Seas: and God faw that it was good.

10. God faw that it was good. Thefe words referr to that work which God began on the Second day, and do belong to that matter. 11. And God faid, Let the earth bring forth grafs, the herb yielding feed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whofe feed is in it felf, upon the earth: and it was fo.

11. Let the Earth bring forth, &c. The Earth that was void or empty (v.2.) is now to be replenished. Whofe feed is in it felf and is able

therefore to propagate without diftinction of Sex required in living creatures.

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12. And the earth brought forth grafs, and berb yielding feed after his kind; and the tree yielding fruit, whose feed. was in it felf, after his kind: and God faw that it was good.

day.

13. And the evening and the morning were the third

14. And God faid, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night: and let them be for figns, and for feafons, and for days, and

14. For Signs and for Seafons: That is, to direct Men in their labour and husbandry, and to that pur

pofe to diftinguifh the feveral Seasons of

years. the year, Matt. 16. 2. As alfo direct them afterwards in their folemn Festivals. Thus are those words understood, He appointeth the Moon for feafons, Pfal. 104. 19. See Ecclus. 43. 6, 7.

15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was fo.

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16. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the leffer light to rule the night he made the stars alfo.

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16. Great: So they are both in regard of their light and ufe as well as of their apTo rule: pearance.

The Sun may be faid to rule the day which receives its being from its rifing, its perfection from its advancing, and its period from the fetting thereof; and also because the affairs of the day are tranfacted by the light which it affords; and the Moon may be faid to rule the night (from which the Stars are not to be excluded, Pfal.136.9.) because then the Moon gives a supply of light, which the Sun then does not immediately afford. Compare Job 31. 26. and Fer.3 1.35. 17. And God fet them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth,

17. Firmament: i.e

the upper Firmament

of which v, 14, 15.

18. And to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God faw that it was good.

19. And

day.

19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth

20. And God faid, Let the wa-. ters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that bath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. ed out of the ground, (Gen. 2. 19.) Waters, however the ground were (v. 22.)

20. And fowl that may fly: Or rather,and let fowl fly, as it may be rendred from the

Hebrew. For the fowl of the Air was formnot produced by the drenched by them,

21. And God created great 21. Great Whales. whales, and every living creature See Pfalm 104, 25, that moveth, which the waters 26.

brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God faw that it was good.

22. And God blefed them, faying, Be fruitfull, and multiply, and fill the waters in the feas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the li ving creature after his kind, cattel, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was fo.

25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattel after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26. And God faid, Let us make man in our image, after our like nefs: and let them have dominion over the fifh of the fea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattel, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

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26. Let us make Man: Man is made by God immediately, and not produced as

other Creatures were,

(v.24.) He was made alfo laft, when the World was stored and finished. He was alfo made in fuch a mariner

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