And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
8. God called the firmament Heaven ] It is clear therefore that what the Hebrews meant by “Heaven,” was neither the clouds and mist, nor the empty space of the sky. It was a solid arch, to which, as we shall see in Gen 1:14, the luminaries of the sky could be attached.
At the close of the description of the work on the other days, we find the formula “And God saw that it was good” ( Gen 1:10 ; Gen 1:12 ; Gen 1:18 ; Gen 1:21 ; Gen 1:25 ; Gen 1:31). The omission of it here, at the close of the second day, is probably due to textual error.
LXX adds after the word “Heaven,” “and God saw that it was good.” It is more probable that the words have fallen out accidentally from the Hebrew text, than that the formula was intentionally omitted because, “the waters under the firmament” not having yet received their place, the Divine work upon the waters of the deep was regarded as still incomplete.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And God called the firmament heaven,…. Including the starry and airy heavens: it has its name from its height in the Arabic language, it being above the earth, and reaching to the third heaven; though others take the word “shamaim” to be a compound of two words, “sham” and “maim”, that is, there are waters, namely, in the clouds of heaven:
and the evening; and the morning were the second day; these together made up the space of twenty four hours, which was another natural day; the body of light, created on the first day, having again moved round the chaos in that space of time; or else the chaos had turned round on its own axis in that time, which revolution produced a second day; and which, according to Capellus, was the nineteenth of April, and according to Bishop Usher the twenty fourth of October. It is an observation that everyone may make, that the phrase,
and God saw that it was good, is not used at the close of this day’s work, as of the rest: the reason some Jewish writers give is, because the angels fell on this day; but it is a much better which Jarchi gives, and that is, because the work of the waters was not finished; it was begun on the second day, and perfected on the third d; and therefore the phrase is twice used in the account of the third day’s work: the Septuagint version adds it here indeed, but without any foundation.
d Vid. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 30.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) God called the firmament (the expanse) Heaven.This is a Saxon word, and means something heaved up. The Hebrew probably means the heights, or upper regions, into which the walls of cities nevertheless ascend (Deu. 1:28). In Gen. 1:1, the heaven may include the abysmal regions of space; here it means the atmosphere round our earth, which, at a distance of about forty-five miles from the surface, melts away into the imponderable ether. The work of the second day is not described as being good, though the LXX. add this usual formula. Probably, however, the work of the second and third days is regarded as one. In both there was a separation of waters; but it was only when the open expanse reached the earths surface, and reduced its temperature, that water could exist in any other form than that of vapour. But no sooner did it exist in a fluid form than the pressure of the atmosphere would make it seek the lowest level. The cooling, moreover, of the earths surface would produce cracks and fissures, into which the waters would descend, and when these processes were well advanced, then at the end of the third day God saw that it was good.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. God called the firmament Heaven Rather, called the expanse Heavens . Here the writer defines the meaning of the word “heavens,” which he had used in the first verse . And he further represents the luminaries as set in the expanse of the heavens, (Gen 1:14-17,) and the winged fowls as flying upon its face, (Gen 1:20,) and hence called the fowl of the heavens . Gen 1:26; Gen 1:28; Gen 1:30. By a most natural process the word would become associated with things above, and be used to denote the dwellingplace of God . Hence, too, the notion of many heavens . Compare 2Co 12:3.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Third Day of Creation Gen 1:8-13 gives us the account of the third day of Creation. On the third day, God divided the liquid and solid mixture that existed below the firmament into water and dry land. This created the seas, lakes and other bodies of water as well as one large land mass which He called the “earth.”
The Creation Story in the Book of Creation – On the third day, God also created the plant kingdom. The Book of Jubilees (2.5-8) tells us that it was on the third day of Creation that God also created the Garden of Eden. It says that these were the four acts of creation on the third day.
Gen 1:9 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.
Gen 1:10 Gen 1:11 Gen 1:11
Gen 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 saw that it was good.
Gen 1:13 Gen 1:13
Mat 6:34, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
Gen 1:11-13 Comments – Plant Life Was Created Before Sunlight – Since the plant life was created on the third day and the sun was not created until the fourth day, how did the plants live without sunlight? They lived the same way that plants will live in heaven. Perhaps, the light of the glory of God shines brighter than the sun, both in the Garden of Eden and in heaven.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Ver. 8. And the evening, &c. ] Here is no mention of God’s approbation of this second day’s work. Not for that hell was then created, or the reprobate angels then ejected, as the Jews give as the reason of it; but because this day’s work was left unperfected, till the next; to the which, therefore, the blessing was reserved, and is then redoubled. God delights to do his works, not all at once, but by degrees, that we may take time to contemplate them piecemeal, and see him in every one of them, as in an optic glass. “Consider the lilies of the field,” saith our Saviour. K Mat 6:28 “Go to the ant, thou sluggard,” saith Solomon. Pro 6:6 Luther a wished Pontanus, Chancellor of Saxony, to contemplate the star-chamber of heaven, that stupendous archwork borne up by no props or pillars, and yet not falling on our heads: the thick clouds also hanging often over us with great weight, and yet vanishing again, when they have greeted us but with their threatening looks. And cannot God as easily uphold his sinking saints, and blow over any storm that hangs over their heads? An artificer takes it ill, if when he hath finished some intricate piece of work, and sets it forth to be seen, as Apelles was wont to do, men slight it, and take no notice of his handiwork. And is there not a woe to such stupid persons as “regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands?.” Isa 5:12 He was telling any tale from a bowl but that one stirred our ears , A sino quispiam narrabat fabulam, at ille movebat aures is a proverb among the Greeks. Christ was by at the creation, and rejoiced; Pro 8:30 angels also were by at the doing of a great deal, and were wrapped with admiration. Job 38:4-7 Shall they shout for joy, and we be silent? Oh, how should we vex at the vile dulness of our hearts, that are no more affected with these indelible ravishments!
a Proponit contemplandam pulcherrimam caeli concame rationem nullis pilis et columnis impositam, &c. – Scultet. Annal. 276
Heaven = Hebrew high, lofty.
firmament i.e. the expanse above, the “heaven” of the clouds. Gen 7:11; Gen 8:2.
God: Gen 1:5, Gen 1:10, Gen 5:2
evening: Gen 1:5, Gen 1:13, Gen 1:19, Gen 1:23, Gen 1:31
Reciprocal: Exo 27:21 – evening Job 2:13 – seven days Mar 14:30 – this day
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.
"Heaven" is the same as the "expanse." Moses used it here as a general term to describe everything above the earth from man’s viewpoint (Gen 1:8).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)