Creation Question for the Birds

A visitor to our website asks a questions about Creation:

He reads these words in Genesis 1:20-21; “Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.’ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” Then, he asks this question:

DID THE WATERS BRING FORTH THE BIRDS? AND DID THEY THEN MULTIPLE IN THE EARTH AFTER COMING OUT OF THE WATER (GEN2:19)? IN OTHER WORDS, WERE THE BIRDS BROUGHT FORTH FROM THE WATERS OR FROM OUT OF THE GROUND???

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Dear friend,

Thanks for your question. We’re not given the details of how God created the different forms of life. We’re simply told that He did it; and that He created them ‘according to their kind’ – that is, according to their differing species. But you were right to notice some details.

In Genesis 1:20-21, there are two separate acts of creation being described. On the fifth day, God created the two forms of life that corresponded to His creative act on the second day (vv. 6-8). We’re told that on the the second day, He divided the waters below (the seas that covered the earth) from the waters above (the “firmament”; that is, the sky and the canopy of clouds that covered it). And then, on the fifth day, He created the life that corresponded to those two spheres: the waters below (marine life); and as a separate act, He created the life that corresponded to the “waters” above (the birds). In the one case, He said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures” (that is, marine life); and in the other, He said, “. . . and let bird fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens”. These were two separate acts in God’s creative work; and they seem to be stated as such in verse 21. And in verse 22 He seems to issue two separate commands to “multiply”.

In other words, though the creation of marine life and bird life are mentioned as occurring on the same fifth day, they are really two separate acts (broadly speaking) of creation; both corresponding to the two separate spheres created on the second day. When God says, in verse 20, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures”, He is speaking of marine life – not bird life. There is no indication that bird life was created in the waters.

Genesis 2:19 is consistant with this. God, as that verse tells us, created bird life from the ground, the same as He created the animal life that lives on the land. So I would answer your question to the negative: God did NOT create the bird life from out of the water; but on the land, from which they multiplied and filled the sky . . . although I have to admit that that’s all the details we are given.

God is a God of great order; isn’t He? He didn’t create the bird life in the water; in which birds would have drowned before they could multiply on the land or fly in the sky. Nor did He create the marine life on the land; across which fish would have to flop, in order – hopefully – to fall into the sea before they would dry out and perish in the open air. Last of all, God created man from the ground and upon the land; so that he could name the animals and the birds that God brought to him. God created all living things in an environment consistant with the individual natures of each. How wise He is!

Your question was an interesting one. I commend you for taking the words of scripture seriously and making such careful observations. If you would like to read a commentary that may help, I recommend “The Genesis Record” by Dr. Henry M. Morris (published by Baker Books). Dr. Morris is a scientist as well as a very knowledgeable Bible teacher and Christian; and his commentary is a very informative and spiritually enriching guide. May God bless your further study of His word.

Pastor Greg

(All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version.)