Whether It Was Fitting That the Gathering Together of the Waters
Should Take Place, As Recorded, on the Third Day?
Objection 1: It would seem that it was not fitting that the gathering
together of the waters should take place on the third day. For what
was made on the first and second days is expressly said to have been
"made" in the words, "God said: Be light made," and "Let there be a
firmament made."But the third day is contradistinguished from the
first and the second days. Therefore the work of the third day
should have been described as a making not as a gathering together.
Obj. 2: Further, the earth hitherto had been completely covered by
the waters, wherefore it was described as "invisible" [* See Q. 66,
A. 1, Obj. 1]. There was then no place on the earth to which the
waters could be gathered together.
Obj. 3: Further, things which are not in continuous contact cannot
occupy one place. But not all the waters are in continuous contact,
and therefore all were not gathered together into one place.
Obj. 4: Further, a gathering together is a mode of local movement.
But the waters flow naturally, and take their course towards the sea.
In their case, therefore, a Divine precept of this kind was
unnecessary.
Obj. 5: Further, the earth is given its name at its first creation by
the words, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." Therefore
the imposition of its name on the third day seems to be recorded
without necessity.
_On the contrary,_ The authority of Scripture suffices.
_I answer that,_ It is necessary to reply differently to this
question according to the different interpretations given by
Augustine and other holy writers. In all these works, according to
Augustine (Gen. ad lit. i, 15; iv, 22, 34; De Gen. Contr. Manich. i,
5, 7), there is no order of duration, but only of origin and nature.
He says that the formless spiritual and formless corporeal natures
were created first of all, and that the latter are at first indicated
by the words "earth" and "water." Not that this formlessness preceded
formation, in time, but only in origin; nor yet that one formation
preceded another in duration, but merely in the order of nature.
Agreeably, then, to this order, the formation of the highest or
spiritual nature is recorded in the first place, where it is said
that light was made on the first day. For as the spiritual nature is
higher than the corporeal, so the higher bodies are nobler than the
lower. Hence the formation of the higher bodies is indicated in the
second place, by the words, "Let there be made a firmament," by which
is to be understood the impression of celestial forms on formless
matter, that preceded with priority not of time, but of origin only.
But in the third place the impression of elemental forms on formless
matter is recorded, also with a priority of origin only. Therefore
the words, "Let the waters be gathered together, and the dry land
appear," mean that corporeal matter was impressed with the
substantial form of water, so as to have such movement, and with
the substantial form of earth, so as to have such an appearance.
According, however, to other holy writers [* See Q. 66, A. 1], an
order of duration in the works is to be understood, by which is meant
that the formlessness of matter precedes its formation, and one form
another, in order of time. Nevertheless, they do not hold that the
formlessness of matter implies the total absence of form, since
heaven, earth, and water already existed, since these three are named
as already clearly perceptible to the senses; rather they understand
by formlessness the want of due distinction and of perfect beauty,
and in respect of these three Scripture mentions three kinds of
formlessness. Heaven, the highest of them, was without form so long
as "darkness" filled it, because it was the source of light. The
formlessness of water, which holds the middle place, is called the
"deep," because, as Augustine says (Contr. Faust. xxii, 11), this
word signifies the mass of waters without order. Thirdly, the
formless state of the earth is touched upon when the earth is said to
be "void" or "invisible," because it was covered by the waters. Thus,
then, the formation of the highest body took place on the first day.
And since time results from the movement of the heaven, and is the
numerical measure of the movement of the highest body, from this
formation, resulted the distinction of time, namely, that of night
and day. On the second day the intermediate body, water, was formed,
receiving from the firmament a sort of distinction and order (so that
water be understood as including certain other things, as explained
above (Q. 68, A. 3)). On the third day the earth, the lowest body,
received its form by the withdrawal of the waters, and there resulted
the distinction in the lowest body, namely, of land and sea. Hence
Scripture, having clearly expressed the formless state of the earth,
by saying that it was "invisible" or "void," expresses the manner in
which it received its form by the equally suitable words, "Let the
dry land appear."
Reply Obj. 1: According to Augustine [*Gen. ad lit. ii, 7, 8; iii,
20], Scripture does not say of the work of the third day, that it was
made, as it says of those that precede, in order to show that higher
and spiritual forms, such as the angels and the heavenly bodies, are
perfect and stable in being, whereas inferior forms are imperfect and
mutable. Hence the impression of such forms is signified by the
gathering of the waters, and the appearing of the land. For "water,"
to use Augustine's words, "glides and flows away, the earth abides"
(Gen. ad lit. ii, 11). Others, again, hold that the work of the third
day was perfected on that day only as regards movement from place to
place, and that for this reason Scripture had no reason to speak of
it as made.
Reply Obj. 2: This argument is easily solved, according to
Augustine's opinion (De Gen. Contr. Manich. i), because we need not
suppose that the earth was first covered by the waters, and that
these were afterwards gathered together, but that they were produced
in this very gathering together. But according to the other writers
there are three solutions, which Augustine gives (Gen. ad lit. i,
12). The first supposes that the waters are heaped up to a greater
height at the place where they were gathered together, for it has
been proved in regard to the Red Sea, that the sea is higher than the
land, as Basil remarks (Hom. iv in Hexaem.). The second explains the
water that covered the earth as being rarefied or nebulous, which was
afterwards condensed when the waters were gathered together. The
third suggests the existence of hollows in the earth, to receive the
confluence of waters. Of the above the first seems the most probable.
Reply Obj. 3: All the waters have the sea as their goal, into which
they flow by channels hidden or apparent, and this may be the reason
why they are said to be gathered together into one place. Or, "one
place" is to be understood not simply, but as contrasted with the
place of the dry land, so that the sense would be, "Let the waters be
gathered together in one place," that is, apart from the dry land.
That the waters occupied more places than one seems to be implied by
the words that follow, "The gathering together of the waters He
called Seas."
Reply Obj. 4: The Divine command gives bodies their natural movement
and by these natural movements they are said to "fulfill His word."
Or we may say that it was according to the nature of water completely
to cover the earth, just as the air completely surrounds both water
and earth; but as a necessary means towards an end, namely, that
plants and animals might be on the earth, it was necessary for the
waters to be withdrawn from a portion of the earth. Some philosophers
attribute this uncovering of the earth's surface to the action of the
sun lifting up the vapors and thus drying the land. Scripture,
however, attributes it to the Divine power, not only in the Book of
Genesis, but also Job 38:10 where in the person of the Lord it is
said, "I set My bounds around the sea," and Jer. 5:22, where it is
written: "Will you not then fear Me, saith the Lord, who have set
the sand a bound for the sea?"
Reply Obj. 5: According to Augustine (De Gen. Contr. Manich. i),
primary matter is meant by the word earth, where first mentioned,
but in the present passage it is to be taken for the element itself.
Again it may be said with Basil (Hom. iv in Hexaem.), that the earth
is mentioned in the first passage in respect of its nature, but here
in respect of its principal property, namely, dryness. Wherefore it
is written: "He called the dry land, Earth." It may also be said with
Rabbi Moses, that the expression, "He called," denotes throughout an
equivocal use of the name imposed. Thus we find it said at first that
"He called the light Day": for the reason that later on a period of
twenty-four hours is also called day, where it is said that "there
was evening and morning, one day." In like manner it is said that
"the firmament," that is, the air, "He called heaven": for that which
was first created was also called "heaven." And here, again, it is
said that "the dry land," that is, the part from which the waters had
withdrawn, "He called, Earth," as distinct from the sea; although the
name earth is equally applied to that which is covered with waters or
not. So by the expression "He called" we are to understand throughout
that the nature or property He bestowed corresponded to the name He
gave.
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