In The Beginning

IN THE BEGINNING

An Exposition of Genesis 1:1–2:3

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: January 30, 2022

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

1 ¹ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.⁴ And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. ⁸ And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

⁹ And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ¹² The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷ And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” ²¹ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its 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 birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵ And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2 ¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ² And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. ³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 1:1-2:3)

This is the Word of God and it is for our good. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your holy Word, which tells us things that we otherwise would not know. And Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would come and illuminate this passage for our hearts and for our lives and for our sanctification. And Father, I pray that you would lead us in the way of truth. In Jesus’ name, amen.

INTRODUCTION

I have a modest aim for this particular sermon. This sermon is designed to give us the big picture of these thirty-four verses. Now there's a lot here and we really need to draw out the riches of this passage. In subsequent sermons, still dealing with this passage, we will look at the issue of time. We will look at what it means for human beings to be created in the image of God, really focusing on verses 26-28. I also want to give a message that talks about how we should think about the relationship between Scripture, what Scripture teaches, and the claims of modern science. If I don't talk about something in the text today and you are bummed that I skipped over it – well, just be patient. There is a lot here. We have to take time to walk through it. And by all means, feel free to say something to me or email me if there is a particular item that you'd like to see addressed that I haven't addressed yet – and I will be happy to take that into account in terms of developing subsequent messages.

As for today, I think it's good to start with the big picture and walk through the seven days of creation week. And so that's what I want to do – to walk through these thirty-four verses and then draw out a couple of lessons for us.

WALKING THROUGH CREATION WEEK: THE BIG PICTURE

So, this is obviously creation week – seven days – and we'll start on Day 1.

Day 1 (Genesis 1:1-5)

Day 1 is unpacked in verses 1-5. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (v. 1) God created everything, the stuff above us and the stuff below us and everything in between. God made everything that exists, and yet he did not make it initially in a completed and developed form. For verse 2 immediately says, “The Eerth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” The earth that God had just created was undeveloped. It was formless. It was this watery swamp. It was empty and it was dark.

What is darkness? When you have space that lacks light, then what you have is darkness. This is all very intentional. There's no mistake or oversight on God's part. He had it in his mind, he had planned all along that he was going to do the work of creation in six days. And this is how he started – by creating this unformed mass, this undeveloped swamp, in darkness. Now, it wasn't dark to the Lord, right? The light and darkness, he's just describing it for our benefit. We know that no human being was there yet. If we had been there, we wouldn't have seen anything. “[Darkness] was over the face of the deep”. Verse 2 continues: “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” This is a beautiful thing. You know, God is ready to take further action on everything that he had just made. He's ready to define it and shape it and form it and fill it. He is present. His Spirit is hovering over the waters, ready to take action.

And by the way, just one little application here. We need to understand that God's presence is decisive in taking that which is undeveloped or taking that which is chaotic or taking that which is dark, and turning it into light and giving life. Think about the virgin Mary. The angel told the virgin Mary that she was going to conceive and give birth to a son without the help of any man. And she answered, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34) And the answer is that the Holy Spirit was going to come upon her (Luke 1:35). And what about us sinful human beings? What do we need in our undeveloped, immature, and dark-pocketed hearts? We need the Holy Spirit to come and to give light and life. And so, we see right off the bat that this is the work that God is able to do and does do even here with the physical creation that he had just made.

And so now, in verse 3 – which is still part of day one – it’s time for the first morning in the history of the world. “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” (v. 3) The light rises, so to speak, over the earth. Notice that the creation of light at this point and the shining forth of light onto the face of the earth is without any physical light source. The sun and the moon and the stars are still a few days away. But here's the question. Is it difficult for the Lord to cause light to shine without the sun? Without the moon? Without the stars? It's not difficult. He willed light to shine forth upon the earth. He “separated the light from the darkness” (v. 4), and then he begins to define things. This is what God does. He's the Creator. He's the owner. He has the right to define the way that things are or the way that things will be. And so, he calls the light, “Day” (v. 5).

Now the word ‘day’ can refer to the whole day, what we would reckon 24 hours, but the word day can also be used for the daytime, which is how it's being used here at the beginning of verse 5. “God called the light Day” (v. 5). This is daytime when the light is shining. And so God looks at this part of the creation, when the light is shining upon the earth, and he says that is day. And then he looks back to that darkness of verse 2, and he calls that night: “and the darkness he called Night” (v. 5). Do you see how at the very beginning on day one, God is defining for us what a day is. One day is one cycle of darkness (v. 2) and light (v. 3). So you get darkness and light, night and day, evening and morning. Creation began, so to speak, in the evening, and then about halfway through day one, “God said, “Let there be light ,”” and that was the first morning. “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” (v. 5)

Day 2 (Genesis 1:6-8)

Let's go to Day 2, which is unpacked in verses 6-8. Now keep in mind that God is working on the raw materials that he created in verse 1. God has already addressed the darkness by creating the light. Now he's going to address the waters – the unformed, swampy waters. That's what he's going to go to work on next. In verses 6-8, God says, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” This is difficult to wrap your mind around. He's creating the sky. He's stretching out the heavens. As a result, now you have the atmospheric waters up there, and down here on earth you have the oceanic waters. So he's separating it out. So now you have the sky above and you have the waters below.

Day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13)

Next, Day 3 is unpacked in verses 9-13. He's still dealing with the waters. He has created the sky, but on the earth there is still this undefined watery swamp, and that’s by design. And so now, in verse 9, God addresses the oceanic waters: “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” So now, you can just see the order that God is giving to the world – from this swampy, watery mess to now where you have sky above with waters in the atmosphere (water vapor), and then here on the earth you have the sea and you have the dry land. It's all moving towards something. God is making an earth that is habitable for living creatures and especially for mankind, but there's a little bit more work to do on Day 3.

So after creating the land, God begins to fill the land. Indeed, what you'll notice here as we go through the rest of the days – now that you have the sky, the sea, and the land – is that now God is going to fill the sky and fill the sea and fill the land. This is what's coming next. It's very orderly, very deliberate. But before the living creatures are created, God creates nutrition. Still on Day 3, God says, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed” (v. 11). So, now there are plants and trees with the capacity to reproduce themselves through the seed that they bear, and this is going to function as nutrition for the land animals, for the birds, and also for human beings, as God tells us at the end of Chapter 1.

Day 4 (Genesis 1:14-19)

Now let's go to Day 4, which is unpacked in verses 14-19. On Day 4, God fills the sky. Before he fills the sky with living creatures in the lower atmospheric heavens, he first fills the sky with luminaries – physical light sources in the astronomical heavens far, far away. As we consider the creation of the sun, moon, and stars on Day 4, keep in mind that day and night already existed (Day 1, v. 5), and light and darkness already existed (Day 1, v. 4-5). And so now on Day 4 the sun and the moon and the stars are brought in to serve the purpose of physically stewarding the light and the darkness – to physically steward the day and the night. God made the greater light, the sun, to rule over the day. God made the lesser light, the moon, along with the stars, to give light on the earth at night time. And so, on Day 4 the heavens are filled with these luminaries.

Day 5 (Genesis 1:20-23)

Next comes Day 5, which is unpacked in verses 20-23. First of all, God fills the seas with “the great sea creatures” and with all kinds of fish that are swarming in the seas (v. 21). And then he fills the lower sky with winged creatures (v. 21). Do you see how this is unfolding in a very orderly format? Our God is a God of order and design and fitness and purpose – and things correspond one to another. And that's what we see unfolding here. So now, the waters are filled with fish and whales and the sky is filled with all kinds of birds.

Day 6 (Genesis 1:24-2:1)

Now let’s go to Day 6, which begins to be unpacked in Genesis 1:24 and runs all the way to Genesis 2:1. Day 6 gets a lot of attention, and for good reason. Early on Day 6, God creates all of the land animals, the livestock, perhaps also insects and reptiles and all these creeping things up on the earth (v. 24-25). So now we have living creatures on the land. But what is missing?

What is missing is a king and a queen. Of course, God is the ultimate King of creation. Obviously, He is sovereign over everything, and it all belongs to him. But his design is to have a steward and a stewardess, a king and a queen, a man and a wife, standing together over the creation as managers, as stewards, as overseers. And so, very special attention is given to the creation of mankind in verses 26-30.

In verse 26 God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion”. And then verse 27 says,

“So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.”

The repetition in verse 27 calls attention to the fact that this is really important. Indeed, we are approaching the crown of creation in the creation of man. Eventually we're going to devote an entire message to verses 26-28. But for now let me just say that as image bearers of God, we are called to represent God on the earth, and to reflect his character and purpose in the way that we do and manage and steward the life that he has given us on this earth.

In verse 28 God blesses the first human beings. Then he indicates that all of the plants and the trees are sources of food for them and also for the living creatures on the land and in the sky (v. 29-30).

At the end of Day 6, God scans the entire creation. You will have noticed that along the way for almost every day (the exception is Day 2) , we are told that God considered what he had made and he saw that it was good (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). But now with everything complete – the unformed and unfilled swampy earth has now been shaped and formed and filled, and the first man and the first woman are now there to oversee that which he has made – “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) There was no deficiency. And so, God had begun to create the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1. But now when you come to Genesis 2:1, what does it say? “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” (Genesis 2:1)

Day 7 (Genesis 2:2-3)

God had started his work of making and shaping the world at the beginning of Day 1, and he had finished this work by the end of Day 6. And on Day 7, what does God do? He rests:

“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:2-3)

Of course, God didn’t rest because he was tired. We get tired. Just a few hours of shoveling snow yesterday wiped me out. God wasn't tired. In fact, God decided upon the seven-day creation week in order to set a pattern for us in terms of how we're supposed to do life (six days of work, one day of rest). So God isn't tired, but he stood back from his completed work of creation, and he enjoyed it. And there was no more work of creation to do. God still does works of providence, works of upholding the world that he has made and directing the course of events upon the earth. But in terms of that fundamental initial work of creating and developing this world, that was done – never to be resumed again – in six days.

So that's the big picture. I told you that we're going to go quickly through the big picture, because I wanted you to see it all at once. I wanted you to see the ordering and the developing of this world that we inhabit. And now I want to draw out a few lessons, and in subsequent sermons we will look at some of the details that we passed over today.

LESSONS TO LEARN

Big God Theology

What this passage really calls us to is a big God theology. Let's just start with this: God is. God is there. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Before there was the heavens and the earth, before there was anything – any space, time, matter, before any of that – God was there. If he hadn't been there, none of this would have followed.

Psalm 90 says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:2) God is the eternal God. It says in the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2) The Word, whom we understand is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ (see John 1:14-18), was with the Father in the beginning, before anything had been created. And of course, the Holy Spirit was there also, as Genesis 1:2 indicates: “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” And so, this Triune God is there. He exists unconditionally. His existence is not conditioned on or dependent upon anyone or anything else.

By contrast, notice that the world is dependent, the world exists conditionally, the world exists if and only if God created it, which he did. The world continues to exist if and only if God continues to uphold it, which he has to this point. But consider these words from Psalm 102:

“Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.” (Psalm 102:25-27)

If your life is anchored here in the heavens and the earth that are destined to perish, you're in real trouble. But if your life is anchored in God, who will never pass away but who endures forever, then you have a firm foundation on which to live. So, the first part of this big God theology is simply that God is. God is there. 

What God is Like

And then secondly, let me fill in the blanks a little bit: God is the personal living sovereign all-powerful all-wise extravagant Creator.

God is personal. God is not an impersonal force. He's a personal God who thinks and decides and speaks and does.

God is the living God. He's alive and active and doing things.

God is sovereign. He freely chooses to create the world. He decides what to create, where to put it, what to call it, and what its purpose is.

God is the Creator, the Owner, the Director.

God is all-powerful. Do you know what happens when I speak? Not much! To be honest, a little bit happens when I speak, because I'm an image bearer of God. And to be created in the image of God means, among other things, that we also speak and things happen. Even so, not much happens when I speak. But as John Piper said, “When God speaks, quasars come into existence.”[1] Or as it says in Psalm 33:

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” (Psalm 33:6-8)

Why?

“For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” (Psalm 33:9)

When God speaks, galaxies come into existence, luminaries appear in the sky, seas move into their proper location, the dry land appears, plants and trees spring up, and life happens: fish and birds and land animals, all with the ability to reproduce themselves.

Just think about God's power. He creates this spherical earth, this rotating earth, and places it in the midst of vast space. And 238,900 miles away, he puts the moon. And 93 million miles away, he puts the sun. And at a range of 29 million to 3 billion miles away, he places the planets. I'm no scholar on these issues, but apparently the stars are 25 trillion miles away. That's so far above our pay grade, it's not even funny. We're talking about unimaginable power, effortlessly creating a universe.

And if you think that you are smart, if you think that your wise, if you think that you have clout, if you think you know how to size things up and you know how to size other people up and you know how to size your own life up, then you really should listen to what the Lord said to Job in Job 38:

“Then the LORD answered job out of the whirlwind and said:

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements–surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?”” (Job 38:1-11)

Do you know what would have happened if God had set before us the unformed unfilled swampy watery undefined mass of the earth in verse 2, and if God had said, ‘Here you go, men, you figure it out. You form it and fill it and shape it. What would have happened? It would have crushed us. But God holds it in his hand, as it were, without stress, without anxiety, without concern, and he tells it exactly what to do, and what he tells it to do happens. “And it was so.” (Genesis 1:7) “And it was so.” (Genesis 1:9) “And it was so.” (Genesis 1:11) “And it was so.” (Genesis 1:15) “And it was so.” (Genesis 1:24) “And it was so.” (Genesis 1:30)

God is the personal God, the living God, the sovereign God, the all-powerful God.

God is all-wise. We see his wisdom in the ordering of creation.

God is extravagant. You notice the extravagance here in Genesis 1. God has not created a merely functional world, but a beautiful world. God has not created a merely efficient world, but a world that is bursting forth with color and variety and possibility. It's remarkable.

Open Your Eyes and Worship the Lord

So here's your job. Here's what your job is and isn't. Your job is not to reduce life to four little walls, and too much screen time and preoccupation with man-made products. Your job is to open your eyes and see glory. Paul says in Romans 1 that God's “eternal power and divine nature” are made visible through the things that he made (Romans 1:20). Are your eyes open to it?

“The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). And your job is to join the worshippers of Revelation 4, who are worshiping the one who is seated on the throne. And they say,

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

Your job is not to self-determine your own meaning and purpose. Instead, your job is to discover the meaning and purpose that God has established, that God has assigned to the world and to you. Don't try to craft an image for yourself or for your life. But instead learn what it means to be created in the image of God, and to be his representative on earth.

Your job is not to depend on your own resources and consequently live in fear because of all the things that might oppose you. Instead, your job is to trust the Lord God Almighty and live with confidence because he holds everything in his hand. He created it. He owns it. He sustains it. He directs it. And he is able to make everything work for your good. In fact, he promises to do so for those who love him and trust him. As it says in Romans 8, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) God is able to make everything work together for you. But do you know what? God is able to make everything work against you. It is not difficult for God to call forth the overwhelming waters and engulf an entire world, as he does in Genesis 7, or to sink the Egyptians, as he does in Exodus 14. God can open up the earth and make you fall down alive into the abyss, as he does in Numbers 16.

Spiritual Light for Darkened Hearts

So, God can make everything work for you and he can make everything work against you. The stupidest thing you could possibly do, is to not care deeply and profoundly about being rightly related to the One who made everything, including you. And if you're feeling some darkness in your heart, remember this: when Paul described conversion in 2 Corinthians 4, he drew up on Genesis 1:3. Genesis 1:3 says, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul said,

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

And what God is able to do for you the same thing that he did for Paul. God can cause the glory of his Son, who loved you and laid down his life for you, to shine in your heart and give you life.

DOXOLOGY

I want to conclude this message, which also at the same time serves to introduce our final hymn, by reading Psalm 148. It's really remarkable how much of Scripture reflects back to Genesis 1. Psalm 148 says,

"Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

praise him in the heights!

Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his hosts! 

Praise him, sun and moon,

praise him, all you shining stars!

Praise him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens! 

Let them praise the name of the LORD!

For he commanded and they were created.

And he established them forever and ever;

he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. 

Praise the LORD from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all deeps,

fire and hail, snow and mist,

stormy wind fulfilling his word! 

Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars!

Beasts and all livestock,

creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth!

Young men and maidens together,

old men and children!

Let them praise the name of the LORD,

for his name alone is exalted;

his majesty is above earth and heaven.

He has raised up a horn for his people,

praise for all his saints,

for the people of Israel who are near to him.

Praise the LORD!" (Psalm 148:1-14)

Isn't it remarkable that the all-powerful and sovereign Creator actually invites people like you and me to be near to him? So then, I say to you: be near to him, through faith in Jesus Christ, and walk in him. Let's pray. 

Father, I pray that you would impress your power and your glory and your wisdom and your will upon our hearts. Write your words upon our hearts. Let your words shape our lives. May it be that you would speak over us and that it would be so, that your words would be carried out through faith, through obedience. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] From a Desiring God video entitled “Don’t Waste Your Pulpit” featuring Pastor John Piper.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Ariel’s Bible Commentary: The Book of Genesis. Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020. 

Russell T. Fuller, "Interpreting Genesis 1-11." The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Vol. 5, No. 3. Louisville: The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fall 2001. 

Douglas F. Kelly, Creation and Change: Genesis 1:1-2:4 in the Light of Changing Scientific Paradigms. Revised & Updated Edition. Ross-shire: Mentor, 2017.

Vern S. Poythress, Interpreting Eden: A Guide to Faithfully Reading and Understanding Genesis 1-3. Wheaton: Crossway, 2019.

Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1998.

Jonathan D. Sarfati, The Genesis Account: A theological, historical, and scientific commentary on Genesis 1-11. Powder Springs: Creation Book Publishers, 2015.

Andrew E. Steinmann, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Volume I). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019.