For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11
The declaration given in the fourth commandment is clear – the heaven, the earth, and the sea were all made during the six literal days of creation week. Therefore, to claim that any of the solids, liquids, or gases comprising our world pre-existed the Genesis creation is a direct contradiction to the words of God Himself.
The first verse of the Bible proclaims the creation of all matter out of nothing. From this substance, man and animal life were subsequently drawn. Although the heaven and earth are plainly stated to have been created in Genesis 1:1, it appears, at first glance, that the waters are not mentioned by Moses in his description of this initial creative act:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1
While not individually mentioned in verse 1, the deep, or waters, were detailed by Moses in the description given in verse 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.
Genesis 1:2
Even without an individual English reference to the waters in Genesis 1:1, it is fair to conclude that the waters mentioned in Genesis 1:2 were included in the initial creation. Such a conclusion is in agreement with God Himself, who stated from heaven that all things were made during those six days. But an examination of certain Hebrew words used in Genesis 1:1-2 reveals this fact with greater certainty.
The word that heaven is translated from is ‘shâmayim’. This is a broad term that can refer to the atmosphere, the firmament, or the habitation of God. Interestingly, shâmayim contains the word ‘mayim’, which is used for waters in Genesis 1:2:
In the beginning God created the heaven [shâmayim] and the earth.
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 [mayim]. Genesis 1:1-2
Since mayim is part of the word shâmayim, the waters were included in Genesis 1:1 when ‘God created the heaven’. Indeed, the waters are intrinsically connected with the heavens.
How this single word shâmayim encapsulates both the heaven and the waters in their primordial condition is demonstrated in Genesis 1:2. In this verse, the earth is represented as being ‘without form, and void’. But just as the waters are seemingly absent from verse 1, the heaven appears to be missing from verse 2. Instead of a description of the heaven, we read that ‘darkness was upon the face of the deep’. This parallel indicates that at this time, the heaven was flooded and dark.
Upon the first day of creation, the heaven was not serving its function as a light-filled expanse. It was only after God formed the light by His word, and divided the waters by making the firmament, that heaven fulfilled the role it was intended to perform. This same theme is seen in the creation of the earth. The earth was not fulfilling its function until God drained the waters on day three, allowing for the dry land to appear.
To this day, the relationship between the heaven (shâmayim) and the waters (mayim) remains. The heaven still stands between the waters that are above it and those that are below it. The shâmayim is the functional expanse between the mayim, which, without the firmament, would be a watery abyss.
Christopher Sparks