The heavens therefore, according to the phraseology and definition of the Scriptures, are the whole of the higher region and its machinery, together with the entire body of the air and all its spheres. The Hebrew name is derived from the material of which it is composed; namely, from that confused body of water, by the extension or expansion or multiplication of which it was formed. For that first body of unformed water was not so extensive in itself, but was so expanded or spread out by the Word. Just as Christ, according to the record of the Gospel, so multiplied a few loaves by his blessing as to make them suffice for a great multitude of men. What therefore we philosophically call the air, with all its spheres, Moses here calls the heavens. But by waters he means the waters of our seas and rivers, which were also formed out of that original unformed mass of water; or out of the dregs or lees of it, as it were, after the heavens had been formed or expanded out of it by the Word. I believe however that the nature and power of our water are far inferior to those of the heavenly waters. For our waters are, as I have said, the dregs, as it were, of the higher waters. So that they may be said to have been gathered together not only as to their place or position, but as to their body or substance, because these latter waters are heavier than those of the air or heaven. For we can breathe in the air, but we cannot breathe in the water. And when Moses says that these waters were "gathered together unto one place" collectively, he is rather to be understood as speaking in a plural or distributive sense. As if he had said, that they were gathered unto various places; and not that the whole body of the waters was gathered unto one place, as one ocean, but that they were distributed into various seas and rivers; some higher up, and some lower down, some greater, and some less, etc. V. 9b. _And let the dry (land) appear._ These words claim particular attention, because Moses had just before said, that the earth was TOHU and BOHU; that is unformed, rude and uncultivated, mixed with waters and washed by the waters on every side. Here therefore Moses also means that this original mass of earth was sunk under the waters and covered by them. Otherwise, why should he represent God as saying "And let the dry land appear," if it had not been surrounded by the abyss of water and almost covered with these original nebulous mists or waters? For we have here a confirmation of that which I have repeatedly set forth; that the world, at its first formation, was nothing but a rude chaotic mass of water and earth; and now on the third day the earth is brought out and made to appear. As therefore at first the light was brought in upon the waters; so now, the beauty of that light is made to shine upon the earth. For both these qualities were necessary to render the earth habitable; that it should be "dry" and that it should be in the light or illuminated.