The Fifth Day
The NIV translation lets us down a bit in its translation of Day Five. In v. 21 in our translation, we read of “the giant creatures of the sea.” However in Hebrew, the text literally speaks of “sea monsters.”
Why does this matter? You and I know that what ancient peoples called “sea monsters” are only the marvelous and mysterious creatures that God put in the deep seas—whales and the like. The Israelites were not a seafaring people, and were terrified of the Deep, but even ancient mariners had only the briefest of glimpses of these majestic animals. The nations surrounding Israel spoke of dark powers at work in the seas and sacrificed to the sea monsters to keep them safe on their maritime voyages.
How foolish, says Genesis 1—everything in the seas was made by God, even the sea monsters. Don’t worship the sun, and don’t worship the sea monsters, says the Bible.
God is so creative: He even made the whales!