WHY DOES IT SAY “HEAVEN” SINGULAR IN GENESIS 1:1 INSTEAD OF “HEAVENS?”

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Gen 1:2  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.

Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Gen 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Gen 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Gen 1:6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

Gen 1:7  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

Gen 1:8  And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

 

As Genesis 2:3 says, on the seventh day God “rested from all his work which God created and made.” Hence as the previous details of/in Genesis chapter 1 describe, during the preceding six days God did just that, i.e. He both “created and made.” God first “created the heaven (singular) and the earth” by bringing the two realms into existence, just as Genesis 1:1 states. Then as verse 2 and following state He immediately went about ‘making’ them to have the various features and characteristics that He wanted each of them to have. Over the course of the six days God produced and formed each realm’s proper features and overall makeup, including giving the realm of the firmament of the heaven a multi-part composition.

 

Gen 2:1  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Gen 2:2  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Gen 2:3  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Gen 2:4  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

 

 

Wherefore when God concluded His work at the end of the sixth day Genesis 2:1 states…

1 Thus the heavens (plural) and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (Genesis 1:1) So then when the realm of heaven was brought into existence at the start of the first day as per Genesis 1:1, it did not yet have its multi-part composition. But then after the six days of ‘creating and making’ were concluded, it had been given the basic multi-part composition that the information in Genesis 1:6 and following says God gave it. Therefore when everything was “finished” Genesis 2:1 says, “Thus the heavens (plural) and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”

 

Keith Blades

Enjoy The Bible Ministries