"
Let us pause here: "God created the heavens and the earth _in the
beginning_";--that is, before any other of the events narrated in the
chapter. Why should we refuse to accept this statement? _In the
beginning_, says the Bible, at the very first, God created the
heavens and the earth. He did not make them in six days, he made them
_in the beginning_; the words "six days" refer, as we shall see, to
something that occurred long afterward. He did not attempt to create
them, he created them; he did not partially create them, he created
them altogether. The work was finished; the earth was made, the
heavens were made, the clouds, the atmosphere, the rocks, the waters;
and the sun, moon, and stars; all were completed.
What next? Is there anything else in this dislocated text that refers
to this first creation? Yes; we go forward to the next chapter; here
we have it:
Chap. ii, v. 1. "_Thus_ the heavens and the earth were finished, and
all the host of them."
{p. 320}
And then follows:
Chap. ii, v. 4. "These are the generations of the heavens and of the
earth, _when they were created_, IN THE DAY that the Lord God made
the earth and the heavens.
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