Bible Wiki Blog

רָקִ֖יעַ בְּתֹ֣וךְ An expanse within Left to itself, the new "water universe" was a competitive community of electrons, nuclea and photons with gravity overpowering the other forces. If God had not spoken again, His work so far would have collapsed in on itself. But once God starts something, He doesn't stop. He speaks again, beginning another day of creation . This time, he calls on the majority of the universal waters to be spread out (Heb: רָקַע raqa` ). The noun form in the text is רָקִ֖יעַ (raqi`a), an expanding wall of water coming from deep within ( תָּוֶךְ tevek) the sphere . God proves to be several steps ahead of nature from the very beginning. As the water is agitated, perhaps by microwaves of compressed light, it rises through the mass toward the voice that called it.

וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִי God formed an expanse Second to just speaking, that is programming the universe, the analogy to a potter with clay describes the work of God.  The verb used for this work is עָשָׂה (`asah) which means  to do, work, make, produce. It is often translated "to form". The second day of creation is the work of making a space to work. This includes building a "work bench". Given the nature of things, the sphere began to collapse upon itself at an exponential rate. But gravity was no match to the arm of God , which could provide an overwhelming "centrifugal force" that began at what would become the surface of the planet earth. In this miracle, the compact, stone hard water was softened and began spreading outward. In the space of one local rotation all that was left at the center was a spinning rock covered with water and an atmosphere.