Genesis 1:9-13 Day Three: God Creates the Land, Seas, Plants and Trees

"And God said,

'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place,

and let dry ground appear.

 And it was so.

God called the dry ground 'land,'

and the gathered waters he called 'seas.'

And God saw that it was good.

Then God said,

'Let the land produce vegetation:

seed-bearing plants and trees on the land

that bear fruit with seed in it,

according to their various kinds.'

And it was so.

The land produced vegetation:

plants bearing seed according to their kinds

and trees bearing fruit with seed in it 

according to their kinds.

And God saw that it was good.

And there was evening, and there was morning -- the third day."

Genesis 1:9-13 (NIV)

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After separating the waters which were above the sky from those which were below it, God proceeded to create the dry ground -- the land -- and the gathered waters, which He called seas.  These items were formed by means of His word:  God spoke and they were created.

Note also that after creating these things, God saw that it was good.  There was no evil in it, and no decay.  It was complete, whole, unspoiled.  It was good.

Then, God began to fill this land which He had created.  He called for the land to produce seed-bearing plants and trees which bore fruit with seed in it, so that the land would continue to have an abundance of vegetation.

As I read these verses today, I thought that even these words are an argument against evolution, because right from the start there were a variety of plants and trees on the earth, each with its different seeds which would produce only its own kind of plant or tree.  Here there was no struggle of some indeterminate goop to survive and adapt to its surroundings, but instead, divinely created plants and trees, each fashioned with the ability to produce more of its own kind.  In fact, that phrase "according to  their kinds" is repeated twice in this short passage, as if to emphasize that fact.

As with the previous two days of creation, the last verse in this passage notes that there was evening, and morning, [not millions of years] and then the third day was completed.  This formula was repeated after every day of creation.  It  sounds very simple, so simple that even a child could understand it.  Perhaps some might even mock at the simplicity of it.  However, such simplicity also has the ring of truth about it.  I know that to say that you believe in six literal days of creation is considered to be equivalent to having had a lobotomy in some circles, but let that be as it may.  If you think about it, if there is a real God, six days would have been more than sufficient for Him to create the world.  In fact, being God, He could have done it in an instant.  So why didn't He?  I do not know what God was thinking, but perhaps He set things up this way to introduce the concept that a week consisted of six days followed by a day of rest so that man would continue in this pattern.  Later, in Exodus 20:8-11, this concept is formalized at the giving of the Ten Commandments:

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.

On it you shall not do any work,

neither you, nor your son or daughter,

nor your manservant or maidservant,

nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,

the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV)

See also Exodus 31:12-18, where the Sabbath is to be observed as a sign of the covenant between God and Israel.

So, on the third day God created the land, seas, plants and trees.  It rhymes, so it is an easy way to remember this third day of creation:

Land, Seas,

Plants and Trees

Childish?  Perhaps.  But it does stick in your mind, now that you've read it, right?  So it's all good.