My favorite part of Genesis 1 has got to be the first verse. In only ten words, we go from just God to God and a whole lot of matter. No explanation of the method, just know that it happened. Of course then looking at the next verse I wonder, why didn’t God just create the earth already formed and teeming with life. But I guess He enjoys working from scratch. I also think it is strange that water is already present.
Verses 6-8 required a double-take. The heavens seems to refer to anything outside of Earth, not the actual spiritual Heaven with the angels. I think these verses are saying there are waters above the heavens and below?
I also noted that there was a day and night before there were a sun and moon. You have to wonder what that was like. It probably didn’t ease from day to night like now, since there was no gradual sunrise or sunset. It was only like that for three days though, so no major concerns.
The writing in this chapter seems to be more poetic than narrative. It is broken up systematically and begins and ends the same. I do not think that the whole of Genesis is written this way, so it is interesting that it is here. Maybe it the creation account was passed down in this poem-like form to make it easy to remember.