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Home / Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary / Genesis / Chapter 1

Lectionary Calendar

Monday, November 30th, 2020

Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary the First Week of Advent
Genesis 1:6
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Genesis 1:5 Genesis 1 Genesis 1:7

Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let
it separate the waters from the waters."

Jump to: Clarke Commentary • Gill's Exposition • Commentary Critical and Explanatory • Calvin's Commentary •
Scofield's Notes • Trapp's Commentary • Coke's Commentary • Poole's Annotations • Constable's Expository Notes •
Whedon's Commentary • Benson's Commentary • Haydock's Catholic Commentary • Pett's Bible Commentary •
Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes • Ellicott's Commentary • Treasury of Knowledge

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Adam Clarke Commentary Other Authors

And God said, Let there be a firmament - Our translators, by following the Verse Specific
firmamentum of the Vulgate, which is a translation of the στερεωµα of the Coffman Commentaries
Septuagint, have deprived this passage of all sense and meaning. The Hebrew Range Specific
word ‫ רקיע‬rakia, from ‫ רקע‬raka, to spread out as the curtains of a tent or Chapter Specific
pavilion, simply signifies an expanse or space, and consequently that
circumambient space or expansion separating the clouds, which are in the higher
regions of it, from the seas, etc., which are below it. This we call the atmosphere, the orb of atoms or
inconceivably small particles; but the word appears to have been used by Moses in a more extensive sense,
and to include the whole of the planetary vortex, or the space which is occupied by the whole solar system.

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Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "The Adam Clarke Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/genesis-
1.html. 1832.

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John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,.... On which the Spirit of God was sitting
and moving, Genesis 1:2 part of which were formed into clouds, and drawn up into heaven by the force of the
body of fire and light already produced; and the other part left on the earth, not yet gathered into one place, as
afterwards: between these God ordered a "firmament to be", or an "expanse"F22; something stretched out and
spread like a curtain, tent, or canopy: and to this all those passages of Scripture refer, which speak of the
stretching out of the heavens, as this firmament or expanse is afterwards called; seePsalm 104:2 and by it is
meant the air, as it is rendered by the Targum on Psalm 19:1 we call it the "firmament" from theF23 word which
the Greek interpreter uses, because it is firm, lasting, and durable: and it has the name of an expanse from its
wide extent, it reaching from the earth to the third heaven; the lower and thicker parts of it form the atmosphere
in which we breathe; the higher and thinner parts of it, the air in which fowls fly, and the ether or sky in which the
sun, moon, and stars are placed; for all these are said to be in the firmament or expanse, Genesis 1:17. These
are the stories in the heavens the Scriptures speak of, Amos 9:6 and the air is divided by philosophers into
higher, middle, and lower regions: and so the Targum of Jonathan places this firmament or expanse between
the extremities of the heaven, and the waters of the ocean. The word in the Syriac language has the sense of
binding and compressingF24; and so it is used in the Syriac version of Luke 6:38 and may denote the power of
the air when formed in compressing the chaos, and dividing and separating the parts of it; and which it now has
in compressing the earth, and the several parts that are in it, and by its compression preserves them and
retains them in their proper placesF25:

and let it divide the waters from the waters; the waters under it from those above it, as it is explained in the
next verse; of which more there.

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The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes
Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855

Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/genesis-1.html. 1999.

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Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Genesis 1:6-8. Second day.

firmament — an expanse - a beating out as a plate of metal: a name given to the atmosphere from its
appearing to an observer to be the vault of heaven, supporting the weight of the watery clouds. By the creation
of an atmosphere, the lighter parts of the waters which overspread the earth‘s surface were drawn up and
suspended in the visible heavens, while the larger and heavier mass remained below. The air was thus “in the
midst of the waters,” that is, separated them; and this being the apparent use of it, is the only one mentioned,
although the atmosphere serves other uses, as a medium of life and light.

Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text scanned by Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary is in the public domain and may be freely used and distributed.

Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/genesis-1.html. 1871-8.

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Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

6Let there be a firmament (58) The work of the second day is to provide an empty space around the
circumference of the earth, that heaven and earth may not be mixed together. For since the proverb, ‘to mingle
heaven and earth,’ denotes the extreme of disorder, this distinction ought to be regarded as of great
importance. Moreover, the word ‫( רקיע‬rakia) comprehends not only the whole region of the air, but whatever is
open above us: as the word heaven is sometimes understood by the Latins. Thus the arrangement, as well of
the heavens as of the lower atmosphere, is called ‫( רקיע‬rakia) without discrimination between them, but
sometimes the word signifies both together sometimes one part only, as will appear more plainly in our
progress. I know not why the Greeks have chosen to render the word ςτερέωµα, which the Latins have
imitated in the term, firmamentum ; (59) for literally it means expanse. And to this David alludes when he says
that ‘the heavens are stretched out by God like a curtain,’ (Psalms 104:2.) If any one should inquire whether this
vacuity did not previously exist, I answer, however true it may be that all parts of the earth were not overflowed
by the waters; yet now, for the first time, a separation was ordained, whereas a confused admixture had
previously existed. Moses describes the special use of this expanse, to divide the waters from the waters from
which word arises a great difficulty. For it appears opposed to common sense, and quite incredible, that there
should be waters above the heaven. Hence some resort to allegory, and philosophize concerning angels; but
quite beside the purpose. For, to my mind, this is a certain principle, that nothing is here treated of but the
visible form of the world. He who would learn astronomy, (60) and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere.
Here the Spirit of God would teach all men without exception; and therefore what Gregory declares falsely and
in vain respecting statues and pictures is truly applicable to the history of the creation, namely, that it is the book
of the unlearned. (61) The things, therefore, which he relates, serve as the garniture of that theater which he
places before our eyes. Whence I conclude, that the waters here meant are such as the rude and unlearned
may perceive. The assertion of some, that they embrace by faith what they have read concerning the waters
above the heavens, notwithstanding their ignorance respecting them, is not in accordance with the design of
Moses. And truly a longer inquiry into a matter open and manifest is superfluous. We see that the clouds
suspended in the air, which threaten to fall upon our heads, yet leave us space to breathe. (62) They who deny
that this is effected by the wonderful providence of God, are vainly inflated with the folly of their own minds. We
know, indeed that the rain is naturally produced; but the deluge sufficiently shows how speedily we might be
overwhelmed by the bursting of the clouds, unless the cataracts of heaven were closed by the hand of God. Nor
does David rashly recount this among His miracles, that God layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters,
(Psalms 104:31;) and he elsewhere calls upon the celestial waters to praise God, (Psalms 148:4.) Since,
therefore, God has created the clouds, and assigned them a region above us, it ought not to be forgotten that
they are restrained by the power of God, lest, gushing forth with sudden violence, they should swallow us up:
and especially since no other barrier is opposed to them than the liquid and yielding, air, which would easily
give way unless this word prevailed, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters.’ Yet Moses has not affixed to
the work of this day the note that God saw that it was good: perhaps because there was no advantage from it till
the terrestrial waters were gathered into their proper place, which was done on the next day, and therefore it is
there twice repeated. (63)

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Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "Calvin's Commentary on the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/genesis-
1.html. 1840-57.

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Scofield's Reference Notes

firmament Lit. expanse (i.e. of waters beneath, of vapour above).

Copyright Statement
These files are considered public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available in the Online Bible Software Library.

Bibliography
Scofield, C. I. "Scofield Reference Notes on Genesis 1:6". "Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition)".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/srn/genesis-1.html. 1917.

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John Trapp Complete Commentary

Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
the waters.

Ver. 6. Let there be a firmament.] Yet not so firm, but it shall be dissolved. [2 Peter 3:11] That it is not presently
so; that those windows of heaven are not opened, as once in the deluge, having no better a bar than the liquid
air, and we suddenly buried in one universal grave of waters; see a miracle of God’s mercy, and thank him for
this powerful word of his, "Let there be a firmament." Bartholinus (a) tells us, that in the year of Christ 1551, a
very great multitude of men and cattle were drowned by a terrible tempest, the clouds suddenly dissolving, and
the waters pouring down amain with such a strange stupendous violence, that the massy walls of many cities,
various vineyards, and fair houses were utterly destroyed and ruined. Clouds, those bottles of rain, are vessels
as thin as the liquor which is contained in them. There they hang and move, though weighty with their burdens.
How they are upheld, saith a reverend divine, (b) and why they fall here and now, we know not, and wonder.
[Job 26:8] They water our lands, as we do our gardens, and are therefore called our heavens. [Deuteronomy
33:28]

Copyright Statement
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.

Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". John Trapp Complete Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/genesis-
1.html. 1865-1868.

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Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Genesis 1:6. Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters— After having given an account of the
generation of light, the sacred writer goes on to inform us of the generation of the air, or of that expansive
element which fills the space between the earth and the highest regions, and which goes under the general
name of the heavens. This air, in its first created state, was intermixed with the other elements in the chaotic
mass; upon which a motion having been impressed by the divine energy, and the light having emerged, the
Almighty next directs the air, according to its nature, to operate amidst the waters; and by its expansive and
compressing power, to carry some of these waters aloft with it, and to keep the rest in their due station below on
the earth. This I take to be the meaning of the present verse; to which not only the words, but the nature of
things, correspond. For rekiang ( ‫) רקיע‬, as our translators observe in the margin, (though, after the Vulgate
and LXX, they have rendered it firmament,) signifies expansion; or rather the air or heaven in a state of
expansion; for expansion necessarily implies an agent to expand, and here an agent is expressed, which was
to divide or separate the waters; which agent is called, Genesis 1:8 heaven. As the light, which makes the day,
is called day; and the darkness, night: so, that which makes the heaven, i.e.. the air, is called heaven. Those
who understand the properties of the air, which is peculiarly elastic, and therefore expansive and compressing,
will see the great propriety of the original, rechio, which is derived from the verb recho, to stretch forth, extend,
distend, expand every way. And nothing but our being accustomed immediately to annex the idea of the regions
of supernal bliss to the word heaven, when we hear or read it, could make it appear strange to us, that this
agent is called heaven or heavens; since the whole space we see, and commonly call heaven, is nothing more
than the air. How far this air or heaven may rise and extend, I cannot determine. But it seems to me most
probable (and I have Sir Isaac Newton's authority, or at least supposition on my side) that the whole planetary
space is filled with a fine and subtle ether; which, it is probable, grows finer and finer as it approaches the
central fire, the sun, and becomes grosser, and grosser the nearer it approaches the center of our planet. By
the firmament, therefore, I would understand all that immense space which every way surrounds our earth, and
extends to the limits of our system, and which I conceive to be filled with ether, denser or finer, in proportion to
its proximity to, or distance from, the sun.

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Bibliography
Coke, Thomas. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/genesis-1.html. 1801-1803.

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Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

A firmament; or, an extension, or a space or

place extended or stretched out, and spread abroad like a tent or curtain, between the waters, though not
exactly in the middle place; as Tyrus is said to sit, or be situated in the midst of the seas, Ezekiel 28:2, though it
was but a little space within the sea. But of these things see more in Genesis 1:7.

Copyright Statement
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Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/genesis-1.html. 1685.

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Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable

The "expanse" refers to the heavenly vault above the earth. Moses called it the "firmament" (AV) or
"sky" (NIV). God placed the sun, moon, and stars in it ( Genesis 1:16-17). The ancients grouped the stars
and planets together referring to the former as fixed stars and the latter as wandering stars (cf. Jude 1:13).

Copyright Statement
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.

Bibliography
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/genesis-1.html. 2012.

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Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

SECOND DAY — HEAVENS, Genesis 1:6-8.

6. Let there be a firmament — Hebrews, ‫ ; רקיע‬Sept., στερεωµα; Vulg., firmamentum. The Hebrew word
properly means something spread out; margin, expansion. It means the expanse, the open space above the
surface of the land through which an observer looks away to what appears a vast concave surface above him.
This open sky is metaphorically called the “firmament;” but we are not to suppose that the ancients, any more
than the moderns, believed in a solid metallic firmament. The poetical language of Job 37:18; Isaiah 40:22;
Psalms 78:23, etc., no more implies such a belief than similar metaphors in the poetry of the present day.

In the midst of the waters — Between the waters below and the waters above, as is immediately explained.

Let it divide — Let it serve as a divider of the waters below, (namely, the deep,) and the waters that float in
cloudy masses above the face of the deep. Psalms 148:4.

Copyright Statement
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Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "Whedon's Commentary on the Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/genesis-1.html. 1874-1909.

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Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

Genesis 1:6. Let there be a firmament — This term, which is an exact translation of the word used by the
Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Old Testament, by no means expresses the sense of the word used by
Moses, ‫רקיע‬, rakiang, which merely means extension or expansion. And as this extension or expansion was
to be in the midst of the waters, and was to divide the waters from the waters, it chiefly, if not solely, means the
air or atmosphere which separates the water in the clouds from that which is in and upon the earth. Thus the
second great production of the Almighty was the element which is next in simplicity, purity, activity, and power,
to the light, and no doubt was also used by him as an agent in producing some subsequent effects, especially in
gathering the waters into one place. It is true, we afterward read of the sun, moon, and stars being set in the
firmament of heaven: but the meaning seems only to be that they are so placed as only to be visible to us
through the atmosphere.

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Bibliography
Benson, Joseph. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". Joseph Benson's Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rbc/genesis-
1.html. 1857.

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George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

A firmament. By this name is here understood the whole space between the earth and the highest stars. The
lower part of which divideth the waters that are upon the earth, from those that are above in the clouds.
(Challoner) --- The Hebrew Rokia is translated stereoma, solidity by the Septuagint., and expansion by most of
the moderns. The heavens are often represented as a tent spread out, Psalm ciii. 3. (Calmet)

Copyright Statement
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Bibliography
Haydock, George Leo. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hcc/genesis-1.html. 1859.
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Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

‘And God said “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the
waters.’

Up to this time there has been no atmosphere, for creation is seen as being one blanket of ‘primeval water’. All
is ‘liquid’; all is primeval, unshaped, formless matter, but now given body by ‘light’. And now God acts to
produce an atmosphere with ‘water’ below and clouds above.

The word for ‘expanse’ or ‘firmament’ is raqia which originally indicated ‘something trodden on and stamped
out’, and then ‘to make thin like a piece of metal beaten into shape’, and thus ‘to spread out, to expand’.

The ancients saw the water come down through the atmosphere from the heavens, but we know from later
descriptions that they recognised that this came from the clouds (e.g. Deuteronomy 11:11; Judges 5:4; 2
Samuel 22:12; 1 Kings 18:45; Job 36:27). And people then as now had climbed mountains and found
themselves above the clouds and above the rain (we must stop thinking of them as stupid).

Thus the writer is not suggesting that there is a physical cupola somehow holding up the water. He is using a
vivid metaphorical description to describe a reality, water held above by something ‘stretched out’ by God, and
water below. He does not pretend to understand the mechanics of it, he does not try to explain it. He simply
describes what he sees. He just knows that God has made some way of holding the water up. He sees that it is
so, and He knows that it is so at the behest of God.

The Bible writers give many descriptions of this ‘firmament’. It is described in terms of being like a transparent
work of sapphire stone (Exodus 24:10), in terms of a molten mirror (Job 37:18), in terms of the curtains of a tent
(Isaiah 40:22; Isaiah 54:2), but all were vividly descriptive, not an attempt to explain the universe.

We must not over-literalise the descriptions of poetic minds and make them hold views that they did not hold,
however simple minded we make them to be. They saw things as an artist sees them, not a scientist. Their very
‘simplicity’ and practicality of mind prevented them from trying to formulate scientific theories, but that did not
prevent their ideas from being profound. This writer was not investigating world phenomena, he was taken up
with what God was doing. He was not analysing ‘how’, he was asking ‘Who?’ and ‘Why?’, profounder questions
far. The how he left to God.

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Bibliography
Pett, Peter. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible ". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pet/genesis-
1.html. 2013.

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E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

firmament = expanse. Something spread out.

Copyright Statement
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Bibliography
Bullinger, Ethelbert William. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "E.W. Bullinger's Companion bible Notes".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/genesis-1.html. 1909-1922.

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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) A firmament.—This is the Latin translation of the Greek word used by the translators of the Septuagint
Version. Undoubtedly it means something solid; and such was the idea of the Greeks, and probably also of the
Hebrews. As such it appears in the poetry of the Bible, where it is described as a mighty vault of molten glass
(Job 37:18), upheld by the mountains as pillars (Job 26:11; 2 Samuel 22:8), and having doors and lattices
through which the Deity pours forth abundance (Genesis 7:11; Psalms 78:23). Even in this “Hymn of Creation”
we have poetry, but not expressed in vivid metaphors, but in sober and thoughtful language. Here, therefore,
the word rendered “firmament” means an expanse. If, as geologists tell us, the earth at this stage was an
incandescent mass, this expanse would be the ring of equilibrium, where the heat supplied from below was
exactly equal to that given off by radiation into the cold ether above. And gradually this would sink lower and
lower, until finally it reached the surface of the earth; and at this point the work of the second day would be
complete.

Copyright Statement
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.

Bibliography
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ebc/genesis-1.html. 1905.

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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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

Let there
14,20; 7:11,12; Job 26:7,8,13; 37:11,18; 38:22-26; Psalms 19:1; 33:6,9; Psalms 104:2; 136:5,6;
148:4; 150:1; Ecclesiastes 11:3; Jeremiah 10:10,12,13; 51:15; Zechariah 12:1
firmament
Heb. expansion.

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Bibliography
Torrey, R. A. "Commentary on Genesis 1:6". "The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tsk/genesis-
1.html.

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Genesis 1:5 Genesis 1 Genesis 1:7

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