Genesis 1:3

3. And God said Or, Then says God . Having stated the condition of things at the time and place of the fiat of the “omnific word,” the writer now denotes a sequence by introducing the future or imperfect tense-form of the verb . The perfect tense of the preceding verbs, ברא (Genesis 1:1) and היתה , (Genesis 1:2,) puts the reader back to an ideal standpoint the beginning; the future tense of ויאמר denotes a point of time future from that standpoint, though really in the past . Every creation of this chapter is preceded by these words, God said, from which doubtless arose the sublime New Testament conception that the worlds ( ages) were made by the WORD of God . Hebrews 11:3. Hence, too, the doctrine of the Logos in John 1:1-3.

Let there be light: and there was light Well might Longinus and others call attention to the sublimity of this passage . The natural meaning is, that at the fiat of the Almighty light supernaturally broke in upon the confused deep, and revealed its desolate and empty condition . Whence the light proceeded, by what means it was produced, and how large an area it illumined, are questions as idle to essay to answer as, Of what did God create the great sea monsters, (of Genesis 1:21,) and how many of them did he make? We are told in the verses next following that “God divided the light from the darkness, and called the light Day and the darkness Night . ” The old question, Why this production of light on the first day, when the luminaries first appear on the fourth day? may be anticipated here . The making of an expanse to divide the waters above and the waters below, (Genesis 1:6-7,) and the chaotic condition of the land and waters as previously described, warrant the conclusion that the atmosphere far into the upper heavens was filled with impenetrable mist, utterly shutting out the light of the sun and moon and stars. These luminaries were, of course, in existence, but at the time of this “beginning,” and from that portion of the earth’s surface here described, they were concealed. We know what it is now to have an impenetrable fog settle upon a region and abide for days. Comp. Acts 27:20. The plague of darkness which covered Egypt for three days was such as could be felt, and prevented any one from moving from place to place . Exodus 10:21-23. Is it, then, difficult to conceive a darkness covering all that region where God planted the garden of Eden, so dense as utterly to shut the celestial luminaries from view? We may, indeed, suppose that the light produced by this word of God was the light of the sun, forced through the intervening clouds and mist without dispelling them for three days. The sun would, in such a case, have been invisible. But as the earth continued its axial revolution, day and night were alternately produced, and thus God divided between the light and the darkness. Nothing hinders our supposing such a mode of producing the light, and dividing the light from the darkness.