Thanks for your assistance in my query. The main objections seem to focus
on the fact that Gen 1 appears to be universal in its focus. I would not
argue with this. My point is merely that perhaps, again, perhaps, the focus
of v.1 is the "land" in the narrow sense of the land of Israel; and that
from THERE the author expands his horizons to the whole of the universe. In
other words, God starts with the "land" and makes all the rest of creation
around it.