ational. The word "earth" (_aretz_) is, however, generally used
to denote the dry land, or even a region or district of country. It is
indeed expressly restricted to the dry land in verse 10th; but as in
the case of the parallel limitation of the word "heaven," we may
consider this as a hint that its previous meaning is more extended.
That it is really so, appears from the following considerations: (1.)
It includes the deep, or the material from which the sea and
atmosphere were afterwards formed. (2.) The subsequent verses show
that at the period in question no dry land existed. If instances of a
similar meaning from other parts of Scripture are required, I give
the following: Genesis ii., 1 to 4, "Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them;" "these are the generations
of the heavens and the earth." In this general summary of the creative
work, the earth evidently includes the seas and all that is in them,
as well as the dry land; and the whole expression denotes the
universe. The well-known and striking remark of Job, "Who hangeth the
earth upon nothing," is also a case in point, and must refer to the
whole world, since in other parts of the same book the dry land or
continental masses of the earth are said, and with great truth and
propriety, to be supported above the waters on pillars or foundations.
The following passages may also be cited as instances of the
occurrence of the idea of the whole world expressed by the word
"earth:" Exodus x., 29, "And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone
out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord, and the
thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou
mayest know the earth is the Lord's;" Deuteronomy x., 14, "Behold, the
heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's, the earth also, and
all that therein is."

The material universe was brought into existence in the "beginning"--a
term evidently indefinite as far as regards any known epoch, and
implying merely priority to all other recorded events. It can not be
the first day, for there is no expressed connection, and the work of
the first day is distinct from that of the beginning. It can not be a
general term for the whole six days, since these are separated from it
by that chaotic or formless state to which we are next introduced. The
beginning, therefore, is the threshold of creation--the line that
separates the old tenantless condition of space from the wor