8 | Genesis 1:22
cord ing to their kinds . And God saw that it was good .
26
Then God said , “ Let us make man kind in our im age , in our like ness , so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky , over the live stock and all the wild an i mals , a and over all the crea tures that move along the ground .”
27
So God created mankind in his own image , in the image of God he created them ; male and female he created them .
And God saw that it was good . 22 God blessed them and said , “ Be fruit ful and in crease in num ber and fill the wa ter in the seas , and let the birds in crease on the earth .” 23 And there was eve ning , and there was morn ing — the fifth day .
24
And God said , “ Let the land pro duce liv ing creatures ac cord ing to their kinds : the live stock , the crea tures that move along the ground , and the wild an i mals , each ac cord ing to its kind .” And it was so . 25 God made the wild an i mals ac cord ing to their kinds , the livestock ac cord ing to their kinds , and all the crea tures that move along the ground aca
26 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text ( see Syriac ); Masoretic Text the earth
of the aquatic kingdom . The term tannin occurs in Canaanite mythology for supernatural sea creatures who served the god Yam in his primordial battle with the god Baal . Yam was depicted as Leviathan , a chaotic monster of the primordial deep . Attributing the creation of the tannin to the God of Israel served to assert his superiority over the gods of Canaan , especially those symbolizing the watery chaos that existed before God brought order to the world . It was a message of hope that God was the Creator of even the chaos and thus could subdue it . 1:22 Be fruitful and increase in number God created life to be fertile . Here , the capacity for sexual reproduction is cast as a divine blessing .
1:26 – 31 The creation of man and woman is the climax of God ’ s creative activity . This passage contains several key words and concepts : God ’ s reference to himself in the plural , the concept of the “ image of God ,” the separation of humanity into two genders — male and female — and the divine command for humanity to fill and rule the earth .
1:26 Let us make The occurrence of “ us ” in this passage has been understood to refer to the plurality of the godhead : the Father , Son and Holy Spirit . This understanding would have been unknown to the authors of the OT . Another possible explanation is the so-called “ plural of majesty ,” but this type of grammatical usage is more common for nouns and adjectives than verbs . A simpler explanation is that “ us ” reflects an announcement by the single God of Israel to a group in his presence — the heavenly host . Other OT passages support the idea of a heavenly host or divine council ( Ps 29:1 ; see Ps 82:1 and note ). This explanation also applies to Ge 11:7 . The phrase “ our image ” then means that the members of the heavenly host also reflect the divine image . 1:27 image of God Being created in the image of God distinguishes people from all other earthly creation . God ’ s image is not described as being possessed in part or given gradually ; rather , it is an immediate and inherent part of being human . The image of God likely does not refer to
DAY 5 DAY 6 NIGHT NIGHT NIGHT NIGHT
DAY
DAY
Small animals
Small birds
Small fish
Larger birds Larger fish
Larger animals Humans
And God said , “ Let the water teem with living creatures , and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky .” God blessed them and said , “ Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas , and let the birds increase on the earth .”
And God said , “ Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds : the livestock , the creatures that move along the ground , and the wild animals , each according to its kind .” Then God said , “ Let us make mankind in our image , in our likeness .” God blessed them and said to them , “ Be fruitful and increase in number .”