1/20/24
The Whole Truth of Biblical Creation, Part 3 of 7:
Let us now go forward to the second day.

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 the evening and the morning were the second day.

What Hebrew word or phrase was translated into the (old) English word “firmament”? Could there have been a better choice? It is defined as the vast solid dome created by God during the Genesis creation narrative to divide the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear. The concept was adopted into the subsequent Classical/Medieval model of heavenly spheres, but was dropped with advances in astronomy in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Today it survives as a synonym for “sky” or “heaven”.

Perhaps while in the cloud, Yehovah gave Moses a front row seat in the “movie theater of revelation”. It is doubtful that Moses knew ahead of time what God was going to do, so Moses did not bring any material with him so that he could document what was being shown to him. Therefore he sometime later wrote down on the scrolls what he remembered seeing during those seven days. The first six visions were twelve hours long, from evening till the mid-morning, and Moses slept during the late morning until the start of the next evening. The seventh vision was maybe three hours long or less.

To start off, there is no “creation narrative” in the bible. The closest we come to that is Exodus 20:11, which says:

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

It is also found later on in Exodus:

Exodus 31:17
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

What Yehovah was showing Moses was the history of Earth, not its creation. I would say that it was the first revelation of geologic time given to modern mankind. You will come to realize that later in this series of articles. Let us now go to the third day.

Genesis 1:9-13
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and God saw that it was good.

And God said, 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.

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 saw that it was good.

And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Starting Monday evening, on June 22, a vision was given of “a third day”. The number three is the “Divine number”.

This particular day did not occur in the past, but will occur in the future. Are you confused? Don’t worry. It will all come together at the end.

Now on Tuesday evening, begins the vision of the fourth day.

Genesis 1:14-19
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

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

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

This vision started Tuesday evening, and ended about 9:00 AM Wednesday (evening and morning). It was the only way of Creation Week shown to Moses. From his viewpoint, Moses saw the creation of the Sun, the Moon, and what appeared to be stars. He could see, but maybe not recognize the ten planets of our solar system, other suns of other solar systems, and other galaxies and galactic groups.

The only thing that he may have noticed that was different was the Moon. The (brand) new Moon did not have impact craters. Also, there was an intact planet between Mars and Jupiter. It was a cross (mix) between the inner terrestrial planets and the outer gaseous planets of our solar system. It would later be destroyed.

End of Part 3.