Time, Tide & SEA MONSTER!?!

And so the Fourth day ended and the fifth day begins:

And (in addition to) God said (commanded), Let the waters (remember that God bound them into seas yesterday) bring forth abundantly (this phrase means to swarm) the moving creature (the swarm or an active mass of minute animals) that hath life (live or breathe), and fowl (birds!) that may fly above the earth in the open (unused plural noun always used in singular form meaning face or the part which turns) firmament (expanse) of heaven (the sky). Something that has always struck me as interesting about this verse is that the birds came not from the land but from the sea. Another side curiosity that I have is: "Is this where evolution got its theory that all life came from a primordial sludge?" But then I return to the reading. So God commands and lets see what happens.

And God created (brought from nothing) great whales (a land or sea monster), and every living (alive) creature (breathing creature) that moveth (to glide or crawl), which the waters brought forth abundantly (the swarm), after their kind (species), and every winged fowl (birds) after his kind (species): and God saw (beheld) that it was good (pure/perfect/pleasing). Notice that God commanded in the previous verse and it was created. God commanded the waters to produce swarms of animals and fowls. The waters produced great monsters, and creatures that were alive and breathing and gliding, as well as birds. Notice here that these were fully functioning entities and that they had offspring that were just like themselves. the whales did not have bird offspring neither did the birds produce fish. Finally, notice that what God created was pure and pleasing.


And God (the creator) blessed them, saying (appointing or charging), Be fruitful (bear fruit/grow/increase), and multiply (increase), and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. An interesting word study of the word "blessed" shows that the same word is used for blessing and cursing (Job 1:5), one descriptive of benefit, the other of cursing authority (whether God or a king) in other words treason. So God blessed them by charging them to bear fruit and increase to the point of filling the seas and He laid a charge on the birds to increase in the firm land.

And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Another day ends with the created pleasing God and following His directives. Not only that, they received a blessing and a charge from God. Each of the days of creation have, to this point, built upon one another. First there was the planet, next came light, followed by atmosphere. Then came dry land in the midst of the sea, next was grass, herb, and trees (which birds delight in inhabiting). Finally today was the inhabitants of the seas and the air. God really plans on a grand scale!!!

A dear Christian sister of mine whom my family fondly referred to as our "little mother" had an exercise that she preformed every day. Every morning she would list the days of creation and then detail an example of each that she saw that morning. For example, for the fifth day of creation, she would detail that she saw a robin and if she went to visit the ocean she would list that as what she saw for the third day. That exercise has stayed with me ever since and I believe it is a good tool for showing us the glory and power of God and bringing home the personal nature of the creation. How many days can you see?

Christian