Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Genesis 2:1

CHAPTER 2

Ge 2:1. The Narrative of the Six Days' Creation Continued. The course of the narrative is improperly broken by the division of the chapter.

1. the heavens--the firmament or atmosphere.

host--a multitude, a numerous array, usually connected in Scripture with heaven only, but here with the earth also, meaning all that they contain.

were finished--brought to completion. No permanent change has ever since been made in the course of the world, no new species of animals been formed, no law of nature repealed or added to. They could have been finished in a moment as well as in six days, but the work of creation was gradual for the instruction of man, as well, perhaps, as of higher creatures (Job 38:7).