De Moor VIII:26: The Third Day, Part 1

On the Third Day, 1.  God separated the Lower Waters from the Land, Genesis 1:9, 10.  α.  Not that there was one continuous Sea only, but no Waters, either subterranean in the deep, or within the cavity of the earth to water the land, and to supply drink for man and animal:  is hindered by, a.  the flowing of the River out of Eden, Genesis 2:10:  b.  the great fertility of the Earth; c.  the plural Noun מַיִם/waters, which, besides the Deep and Great Ocean, drives us also to think more of the inland Seas and rives comprehended synecdochically under them.  Although it is certain, that by earthquakes, floods, cavities hollowed out, and new springs, afterwards Waters were diverted to a greater extent into the Earth.  β.  But the Waters were separated from the Land to such an extent that the Land, which hitherto had been completely mixed and covered with Water, was able to been seen as Dry, and made apt for germination by deliverance from the excessive mass of waters.

Whether Saltiness was soon to appear in the Sea, according to our AUTHOR it is possible to be asked, while from natural and artificial Experiments it is evident, that Saltiness is not essential for Water:  indeed, vapors, drawn together into clouds by the influence of solar hear, being then available for the rains of the Earth, in their ascent from the Sea leave behind themselves, and are separated from, particles of salt, which sea Water has conjoined with itself, and which are heavier than the earth and air.  Hence the same Saltiness was at first able to be absent from sea Waters; but yet also, which appears most likely to our AUTHOR, it was present in the Sea by the ordination of God.  There are those that derive the Saltiness of sea Water from Mountains of salt, briny lands and mines, dissolved and liquified by water:  others from heated and dried vapors, which, drawn together by the Sun, then fall again into the sea:  which are nothing but conjectures, altogether uncertain.  Rather, Saltiness appears to be a quality of sea Water, hereafter introduced by the omnipotent power of the Creator, and so abundantly preserved in the same, that it is never diminished or entirely removed, although so many rivers continually discharge their sweet Water into the Sea.  For, this Quality is found to be most useful and altogether necessary in sea Waters:  for, 1.  in this manner sea Waters, which are constantly open to the operations of the air and heat of the Sun, are preserved from corruption and foulness; and hence they remain apt and wholesome receptables for innumerable swimming creatures; and at the same time uncorrupted vapors are able thus continually to ascend from the sea, yet with their Saltiness left behind, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the earth.  2.  Then, by the influence of this Saltiness sea Waters do not so easily freeze into ice, but open spaces everywhere remain for navigation and commerce.  3.  Finally, Salt makes sea Waters heavier, and hence better accommodated to navigation:  see DANIEL VOET, Physiologia, book II, chapter V, § 11, 12, the notes of VRIESIUS there; WOLFERD SENGUERDIUS, Philosophia naturali, part III, chapter X, § 11, 12; BARTHOLOMEUS VAN VELSEN, Philosophicis Scripturis, chapter XVII, § 60, 182, tome 2, pages 766, 988-990; NIEUWENTYT, Cosmotheoria, Contemplation XX, § 72, page 435.

Scripture often makes mention of this Separation of the Waters from Dry Land unto the praise of the All Wise and Omnipotent Creator, Job 38:4, 8, 10, 11; Jeremiah 5:22, with which passages is able to be compared Psalm 104:5-9; unless, says our AUTHOR in his Compendio Theologiæ, this text has regard rather to Flood, sent and withdrawn:  which he affirms more positively in Exercitationibus Textualibus II, § 33, Part II, translating, among other things also, verse 8 in this manner:  they went up towards the mountains (or they covered the mountains); they descended into the valleys (or fissures) unto the place which thou hast founded from them.  With which, says he, not poorly agrees the description of the Flood, sent and withdrawn, rather than of the first Creation and production of the earth, out of Psalm 104:6-9.  And, after citing the text, he adds:  “Thus we interpret the ascending of the waters, rather than of the mountains themselves, and the descending of the waters, rather than of the valleys, as others maintained, so that the speech might have better continuity; although the mountains are also able to be said to ascend truly, when they, laid bare by waters, quite quickly project their peaks again.  Certainly, while before the first Separation of the waters from Dry Land there were yet no mountains, and after that the waters were again overspreading the mountains in the time of the Flood, I myself do not doubt that those expressions of the Psalm are more rightly referred to this time of the second dawning of the world, than to the first Creation.”  On the Question, Whether the mountains, valleys and other Dry Lands were uneven before the Flood? see what VOETIUS answers, Disputationum theologicarum, part I, pages 649, 650.  Moreover, in that place, he discourses concerning the Waters and the Sea, as also of the springs, rivers, lakes, etc; what the origin of the Sea might be, and whether it was from the beginning? whether the Sea is one? whence the Saltiness of the Sea? what the cause of the agitation and other motions of the Sea might be? whence springs and rivers may arise? concerning floods, concerning islands, whether there were no islands from the beginning, that is, from the third day of Creation?

Now, from this Separation of Waters from dry ground, and the gathering of the same in the Sea as just now expressed, is set from the Founding of the Land upon the Waters, namely, the Lower Waters, of which founding Scripture often makes mention, and which with good reason comes to be carefully considered as a work of divine Omnipotence, seeing that the Waters, upon which the Land is set, are lighter than the Land itself, and yet by divine Power the Waters are submerged beneath the Land, in such a way that the heavier Land is preserved resting upon them to the present day, and never again seeks the lowest position, with the Waters again ascending on high to cover the Land:  see Job 38:4, 6; Psalm 24:2; 104:5; 2 Peter 3:5:  hence, not without good reason is the Earth said to be suspended upon nothing, Job 26:7; compare BARTHOLOMEUS VAN VELSEN, Philosophicis Scripturis, chapter XVII, § 7, 137, 138, tome 2, pages 675, 676, 907-909.  Our AUTHOR, Exercitationibus Textualibus II, § 29, Part II, declares this matter somewhat more fully:  “It is necessary to consider the Earth, not as an unbroken, thick mass all the way to the center or middle of the globe, which no one has demonstrated, or will ever be able to demonstrate, but as spread upon the abyss of Waters, which after the likeness of columns uphold that expanse floating; as we see this in part in the case of islands floating, with the weight of the Land not withstanding.  This is declared by the many effects of nature, especially by Water boundlessly emerging, whither no rains readily descend, and by the communication of Waters through the lower courses of much interposed Earth.  But also Moses says the same, when he relates that the Earth emerged in the withdrawal of Waters, etc., Genesis 1:9.  David says the same, sometimes declaring the Earth to be stretched out above the Waters, as, of course, heaven is stretched out above the earth, Psalm 136:6;[1] sometimes to be founded upon the Seas, and established upon the Floods, Psalm 24:2,[2] in which עַל/upon ought not to be understood concerning nearness, whence there is not firmness, nor concerning height over the surface of the sea, as Le Clerc[3] maintains, for the same reason, but concerning the lower base of the mass of the earth; upon which matter you can also consult Exodus 20:4.  Peter says the same, when he teaches that the Earth…for the most part subsists by Water as much as out of Water, as ἔκπαλαι, of old, so the same obtains today, 2 Peters 3:5.”[4]  With which compare what things the Most Distinguished NIEUWENTYT observes, Cosmotheoria, Contemplation XXI, § 32-36, pages 481-485.

[1] Psalm 136:6:  “To him that stretched out the earth above the waters (לְרֹקַ֣ע הָ֭אָרֶץ עַל־הַמָּ֑יִם):  for his mercy endureth for ever.”

[2] Psalm 24:2:  “For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods (‎כִּי־ה֭וּא עַל־יַמִּ֣ים יְסָדָ֑הּ וְעַל־נְ֜הָר֗וֹת יְכוֹנְנֶֽהָ׃).”

[3] Jean Le Clerc (1657-1736) was educated in Geneva, under the tutelage of Philippe Mestrezat and Francis Turretin, and ordained circa 1680.  His sympathy for the theology of the Remonstrants made it impossible for him to continue in Geneva.  He settled as Professor of Philosophy at Amsterdam (1684-1731).  In his Sentimens, Le Clerc finds fault with much of Richard Simon’s work, but his critical approach to the Scripture is similar to that of Simon.

[4] 2 Peter 3:5:  “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water (καὶ γῆ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ δι᾽ ὕδατος συνεστῶσα)…”