And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.
Verse 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas] These two constitute what is called the terraqueous globe, in which the earth and the water exist in a most judicious proportion to each other. Dr. Long took the papers which cover the surface of a seventeen inch terrestrial globe, and having carefully separated the land from the sea, be weighed the two collections of papers accurately, and found that the sea papers weighed three hundred and forty-nine grains, and the land papers only one hundred and twenty-four; by which experiment it appears that nearly three-fourths of the surface of our globe, from the arctic to the antarctic polar circles, are covered with water. The doctor did not weigh the parts within the polar circles, because there is no certain measurement of the proportion of land and water which they contain. This proportion of three-fourths water may be considered as too great, if not useless; but Mr. Ray, by most accurate experiments made on evaporation, has proved that it requires so much aqueous surface to yield a sufficiency of vapours for the purpose of cooling the atmosphere, and watering the earth. See Ray’s Physico-theological Discourses.
An eminent chemist and philosopher, Dr. Priestley, has very properly observed that it seems plain that Moses considered the whole terraqueous globe as being created in a fluid state, the earthy and other particles of matter being mingled with the water. The present form of the earth demonstrates the truth of the Mosaic account; for it is well known that if a soft or elastic globular body be rapidly whirled round on its axis, the parts at the poles will be flattened, and the parts on the equator, midway between the north and south poles, will be raised up. This is precisely the shape of our earth; it has the figure of an oblate spheroid, a figure pretty much resembling the shape of an orange. It has been demonstrated by admeasurement that the earth is flatted at the poles and raised at the equator. This was first conjectured by Sir Isaac Newton, and afterwards confirmed by M. Cassini and others, who measured several degrees of latitude at the equator and near the north pole, and found that the difference perfectly justified Sir Isaac Newton’s conjecture, and consequently confirmed the Mosaic account. The result of the experiments instituted to determine this point, proved that the diameter of the earth at the equator is greater by more than twenty-three and a half miles than it is at the poles, allowing the polar diameter to be 1/334th part shorter than the equatorial, according to the recent admeasurements of several degrees of latitude made by Messrs. Mechain and Delambre.-L’Histoire des Mathem. par M. de la Lande, tom. iv., part v., liv. 6.
And God saw that it was good.] This is the judgment which God pronounced on his own works. They were beautiful and perfect in their kind, for such is the import of the word tob. They were in weight and measure perfect and entire, lacking nothing. But the reader will think it strange that this approbation should be expressed once on the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth days; twice on the third, and not at all on the second! I suppose that the words, And God saw that it was good, have been either lost from the conclusion of the eighth verse, or that the clause in the tenth verse originally belonged to the eighth. It appears, from the Septuagint translation, that the words in question existed originally at the close of the eighth verse, in the copies which they used; for in that version we still find, And God saw that it was good. This reading, however, is not acknowledged by any of Kennicott’s or De Rossi’s MSS., nor by any of the other versions. If the account of the second day stood originally as it does now, no satisfactory reason can be given for the omission of this expression of the Divine approbation of the work wrought by his wisdom and power on that day.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He called them not sea, but seas; because of the differing quantity and nature both of several seas, and of the rivers, and other lesser collections of waters, all which the Hebrews call seas.
The separation of the waters was begun on the second day, Gen 1:6, &c., but not perfected till this third day; therefore Gods approbation of that work is not mentioned there, but here only.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And God called the dry land earth,…. The whole chaos, that was a turbid fluid, a mixture of earth and water, a rude unformed mass of matter, was called earth before; but now that part of the terraqueous globe, which was separated from the waters, and they from it, is called “earth”: which has its name in the Arabic language from its being low and depressed; the lighter parts having been elevated, and moved upwards, and formed the atmosphere; the grosser parts subsiding and falling downwards, made the earth, which is low with respect to the firmament, which has its name in the same language from its height f, as before observed.
And the gathering together of the waters called he seas; for though there was but one place into which they were collected, and which is the main ocean, with which all other waters have a communication, and so are one; yet there are divers seas, as the Red sea, the Mediterranean, Caspian, Baltic, c. or which are denominated from the shores they wash, as the German, British, &c. and even lakes and pools of water are called seas, as the sea of Galilee and Tiberias, which was no other than the lake of Gennesaret.
And God saw [that it was] good that these two should be separate, that the waters should be in one place, and the dry land appear, and both have the names he gave them: and this is here mentioned, because now the affair of the waters, the division aud separation of them, were brought to an end, and to perfection: but because this phrase is here used, and not at the mention of the second day, hence Picherellus, and some others, have thought, that this work is to be ascribed to the second day, and not to the third, and render the beginning of the ninth verse, and “God had said”, or “after God had said, let the waters under the heaven”, c. Ge 1:9
f “a verbo”, “sublimis, elatus, altus fuit” “lingua Arabica, humilis, depressus fuit significat”, Bottinger. Thesaur, Philolog. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 6. p. 234.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10. God called the dry land Earth Or, called the dry (substance) land . The name “land” was given to the dry ground, as distinguished from the surrounding waters, which were named Seas. Here every thing is simple and plain, and as Gen 1:6-8 explained how “God created the heavens,” (Gen 1:1,) so Gen 1:9-10 show how he created the land .
Gen 1:10 And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.
Ver. 10. He called earth. ] This is, the earth which we tread (namely, still the land which we manage, the land we desire.) Hoc est, terrain quam terimus (est enim, etiam, terra quam gerimus – our bodies; – and terra quam quaerimus, – heaven) This he called earth , that is, he set it and settled it by the word of his power. Where we may well wonder that the earth, being founded upon the seas, and prepared upon the floods, and poised in the just proportion, by line, and measure, should abide steadfast; when the high mountains, which do, as it were, imboss the earth, may seem able to shake it, oversway it, and tumble it into the sea. a
a Bark. On Com.
God saw: Gen 1:4, Deu 32:4, Psa 104:31
Reciprocal: Gen 1:8 – God Gen 2:1 – Thus Exo 7:19 – their pools Num 20:29 – General Job 38:10 – brake up for it my decreed place Psa 24:2 – For Psa 33:7 – He gathereth Psa 95:5 – The sea is his Pro 8:29 – he gave Isa 42:5 – he that spread Luk 8:25 – being
"Good" indicates beauty as well as purpose and order. [Note: See von Rad, p. 50.] It was only when the land was ready for man that God called it good. This shows God’s loving concern for human beings. It was good for people. A good God provided a good land for good people.
The separation of water from the land so that man could enjoy the land prepares us for the stories of the Flood (chs. 6-9) and the Red Sea crossing (Exodus 14-15). God later used the waters as His instrument to judge those who opposed His will. The waters were an obstacle to man’s enjoying the land, so God removed them from the land.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)