[KeithLBrown]

The reading for day 2, similar to our reading for the first day, encompasses a vast amount of material for our learning and edification. As there is so much to comment on, for this reading assignment I will focus my comments on the reading from the Pearl of Great Price - combining some of the reading from day 1 with the reading from day 2.

The story of creation has always fascinated me and bears witness to me that our God is indeed an awesome God. We will be reading and studying the Old Testament in a few short months, but please allow me to return to the pages of Genesis and the story of creation as recorded there to elaborate on a few points. Having taken a couple semesters of Hebrew and Greek, I will share some insights from that perspective as well.

First of all it is interesting to note that though we are taught that the world was created in 6 days and the Lord rested from all of His labors on the seventh day by sanctifying it and declaring it Holy, we must realize that a "day" as referred to here in the Scriptures is not the same as our concept of a literal 24 hour day. In Genesis 1:3-31 the Hebrew word that is used for 'day' is "yom" which signifies an extended period of time or age.

The Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, pages 60-61, Baker 1982, quotes Gleason L. Archer who was Associate Editor of the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament concerning the use of the Hebrew word "yom":

“ There were six major stages in this work of formation, and these stages are represented by successive days of a week. In this connection it is important to observe that none of the six creative days bears a definite article in the Hebrew text; the translations “the first day,” “ the second day,” etc., are in error. The Hebrew says, “And the evening took place, and the morning took place, day one” (1:5). Hebrew expresses “the first day” by hayyom harison, but this text says simply yom ehad (day one). Again, in v.8 we read not hayyom hasseni (“the second day”) but yom seni (“a second day”). In Hebrew prose of this genre, the definite article was generally used where the noun was intended to be definite; only in poetic style could it be omitted. The same is true with the rest of the six days; they all lack the definite article. Thus they are well adapted to a sequential pattern, rather than to strictly delimited units of time.”

In 2 Peter 3:8 we are taught, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." What we consider to be a day, and what the Lord calls a day are not the same.

Second, what about the order of the things that were created? Let us return to the Genesis passage in chapter one once again.

Day 1 - The creation of Day and Night - Genesis 1:1-5
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Day 2 - Formation of Earth's atmosphere, separating the water into two parts: (a) oceanic and subterranean water and (b) atmospheric water - Genesis 1:6-8
6 ¶ And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 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.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Day 3 - Formation of the earth, seas, grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit trees - Genesis 1:9-13
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.
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.
11 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.
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.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Day 4 - Creation of the sun, moon, and stars - Genesis 1:14-19
4 ¶ 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:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 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.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 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.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Day 5 - The creation of land and sea creatures - Genesis 1:20-23
20 And God said, Let the awaters bbring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and cfowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Day 6 - The creation of mankind - Genesis 1: 26-31
26 ¶ And God said, Let us bmake man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 ¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Third, I find it particularly interesting that it was not until after the creation of mankind that the Lord looks upon the things that He had created and says that it was very good. Why is that? Is it because of the special relationship that God has with man that nothing else of His creation can experience? Of all of God's creations, only man has a personal, intimate relationship with the One who created him. Also of interesting note is that the Scriptures teach us that male and female created He them. In the Garden of Eden was a man and a woman, not two men, and not two women. Only a male and a female could fulfill the commandment of God to go forth and replenish the earth. This was God's Divine plan for family from the very beginning.

A bit of Scripture trivia - What was Eve's name before it was Eve? Answer - Adam called her Woman because she was taken out of him [man]. Or, as Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." It was not until some time later that her name became Eve which literally means "the mother of all living".

Fourth, regarding the incident in the Garden of Eden where that old serpent who is Satan tempts Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit and then Eve in turn gives some of the fruit to Adam. There have been many theological discussions as to what the fruit was, but I really don't think that it matters. The fruit was representative of sin. At the very moment that Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, sin entered into the world and their eyes were opened to things that they were not aware of before. For example, before they were naked and not ashamed, now as the Lord comes calling for them in the cool of the day, they run and hide themselves because of the knowledge of their nakedness.

Isn't that often the result of sinful acts in our own lives? Oftentimes we try to run and hide and pretend as if we have done nothing wrong. As far as everyone else is concerned all is well. But, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we cannot hide our sins from God. He already knows all about our sins even before we confess them. Like Adam, the Lord at times calls for each of us - Where art thou? In a sense we also reply that we heard Him coming and ran and hid because we were ashamed of our nakedness (sin that we have committed). Take note also of the blame game that takes place. Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent (Satan) for the act of disobedience. Does that sound familiar as well? How many times, especially as kids (and even at times as adults), have we found it easier to place the blame on someone else rather than admitting the blame ourselves? The end result is that all three were punished - Adam, Eve, and the serpent - in one form or another. And as a further consequence, Adam and Eve began to suffer two types of death - both physical death and spiritual death (as in being separated from the presence of God because of sin).