Genesis 1:9

THIRD DAY LAND, SEAS, AND VEGETATION, Genesis 1:9-13.

9. Let the waters… be gathered… the dry land appear The import of these words is, that the land was partially, if not wholly, hidden by the waters; thus further explaining the statement of Genesis 1:2, that it was desolate and empty, and made so by the dark overflowing deep. Now, by the divine fiat, the land is supernaturally elevated above “the face of the deep,” and the waters are made to flow off together into surrounding seas. How large a portion of land was thus made to appear is nowhere intimated. A very natural supposition is, that a large island was suddenly heaved up in the midst of the deep. And this was “the land” of the antediluvian world. On this land, thus raised in the midst of the seas, the garden of Eden was planted, and here man was first introduced. This miraculous elevation of the land from the waters we understand to be the true conception of 2 Peter 3:5, which, literally and accurately translated, is, “For it is hidden from them who will it, that the heavens were from of old, and the land ( γη ) from water and by means of water, consisting by the word of God . ” Thus Fronmuller, in loc . : “The earth originated out of water out of the dark matter in which it was comprehended and through water, that is, through the agency of water, which partly descended into the lower parts of the earth and partly formed the clouds in the sky.” But all was effected by God’s word.