1:9 "Seas"(Heb. yammim) refers broadly to all bodies of water, not just oceans.
1:10 "Good"indicates beauty as well as purpose and order.65It was only when the land was ready for man that God called it good. This shows God's loving concern for human beings. It was good for people.
The separation of water from the land so that man could enjoy the land prepares us for the stories of the Flood (chs. 6-9) and the Red Sea crossing (Exod. 14-15). God later used the waters as His instrument to judge those who opposed His will. The waters were an obstacle to man's enjoying the land, so God removed them from the land.
1:11 Since God created plants with seeds in them the original creation evidently had the appearance of age. He created trees with rings and Adam an adult.66Why did Moses mention only shrubs and trees that bear seeds and fruits? These are the ones that provide food for man. He created others, of course, but Moses was stressing God's care for man.67
1:12 "Kind"(Heb. min) is not a biologically exact term. It indicates that God created several different families of plants as separate acts of creation (cf. vv. 21, 24-25; 6:20; 7:14; Lev. 11:14-29; Deut. 14:13-18). All plants, therefore, did not evolve from one.68
"With the conclusion of the third day yet another color is added to God's cosmos. To the basic white and black of day and night has been added the blue of sky and sea. Now the canvas is adorned with green. The golden-yellow sun and the reddish human being will complete this rainbow of colors."69
Note that on the first and second days God did one work each day. He created light and the firmament. On the third day He did two works. He created the land and vegetation. Similarly on the fourth and fifth days God did one work. He created the lights' functions on the fourth day and the birds and fish on the fifth day. Then on the sixth day He again did two works. He created the land animals and man.70On the first three days He gave form to what was formless, and on the last three days He filled what was void.
