BEGIN DAY 6 – CREATE LAND ANIMALS; CREATE HUMANS, GIVE THEM DOMINION, AND COMMAND THEM TO REPRODUCE; GIVE THEM RULE OVER CREATION ON EARTH)
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind "; and it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Now God performs His final act to prepare His universe for mankind, His pinnacle creation, by creating earth-dwelling creatures. The text says both that “God said let the earth bring forth living creatures” (v.24) and that “God made” them (v.25).
This is the way He created living things, drawing them from the earth he had created in the beginning. He did this for plants (v.12) and He will for man as well in a unique way.
The phrasing of God’s command “let the earth bring forth” is similar to:
- "Let there be light” (v.3)
- “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters” (v.6)
- “Let the waters be gathered into one place” (v.9)
- “Let the earth sprout” (v.11)
- “Let there be lights” (v.14)
- “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures”(v.20), and
- “Let the birds fly above the earth” (v.20)
In the Hebrew text “Let” or “Let there be” in these verses isn’t a separate word or phrase as it is in our English text. In the Hebrew version, the noun is modified into a verb.
More literally the examples above would read something like this in English:
“LIGHT!”
“EXPANSE!”
“GATHERED WATERS!”
“EARTH SPROUT!”
“LIGHTS!”
“WATERS TEEM!”
“BIRDS FLY!”
Likewise, our current v.24 more literally reads like this in English: “EARTH BRING FORTH!”
Again, God calls the animals He created “Good.” He has called things good six times now:
- Light (v.4)
- Dry land and seas (v.10)
- Vegetation (v.12)
- Sun, moon, and stars (v.18)
- Aquatic life and birds (v.21)
- Land animals (v. 25)
» 1:26-27
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
After all of this preparation, God makes a creature that is to be like Himself.
Notice some similarities from this text:
1. Both God and man are referred to as both singular and plural at the same time: - God (singular) said let us (plural) make man in our (plural) image (singular)
- Let them (plural) rule…God made man (singular)… in the image of God He created him (singular); male and female He created them (plural)
2. Both God and man have rulership
- “Let them RULE...” (regarding man)
» 1:28-2:1
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 29 Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food "; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
V.28, is much like v.22. Only to aquatic creatures, birds, and man does God say to be fruitful, multiply, and fill. Aquatic life is to fill the seas. Birds and mankind are to fill the earth.
But v.28 adds more when it comes to man. Not only is man supposed to be fruitful, multiply, and fill. He is also to:
- Subdue the earth (“Subdue”[kabash, כבש] means to “dominate,” or “have dominion”)
- Rule over the fish and birds and all living things (also in v.26)
God transferred dominion and rule over His creation to the part of His creation that He created in His own image! What an incomparable privilege and incredible responsibility. The psalmist reflected on this in Psalm 8:3-8: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained ; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty ! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands ; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.”
After transferring dominion (“subduing rights”) to mankind in v.28, He transferred ownership over plants, trees, beasts, and birds in vv. 29-30 (with the words “I give you”).
V.30 is the first mention of the word “life” or “live” in the Bible.
It’s unfortunate that secular humanists have taken the lead in environmentalism and have so often tainted it with their own distortions. Christians of all people should have been leading the effort to be responsible stewards of creation all along. Fortunately, I see small suggestions that Christians are waking up to this and perhaps there is a turnaround in view. We’ll do it differently than them, no doubt.
To both man and to animals, God here gives plants for food. He doesn’t give animals for food, though. Before the flood animals, birds, and mankind were all vegetarians. It is not until after the flood that people became meat eaters:
Genesis 9:3: “
Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.”
I’ve often speculated a bit whether Noah was given animals to eat after the flood because that was all he could have eaten on the ark during the ~year he was on it – and perhaps that’s also part of why they were taken on 2 x 2 (so they could a food source and still reproduce). This is a wild idea. Don’t put much stock in it. The logical problem with it is that God gave them permission to eat animals *after* the flood, not during it.
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
This verse should have been with the last chapter as it concludes the act of creation. In my opinion, 2:1-4 should all have been grouped with Chapter 1.
Rulership and ownership over creation now belonged to man. These are privileges! There is nothing more loving that God could have done for mankind!
BEGIN DAY 7 – GOD COMPLETED HIS WORK, RESTED, AND SANCTIFIED THAT DAY
2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
You’ll recognize the Hebrew word for “rested,”shabath (שבת). Generically it means to “cease,” and it is used that way many times throughout the Old Testament. Of course, we know that it took on a deeper significance in the life of Israel. He blessed the seventh day and made it holy because that is when He ceased from creation.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.
Vv.4-5 are transition verses between the two stories, ending one and beginning the next. Not everyone looks at it this way and, to be fair, these verses could also be read as the beginning of the next story. Those who see it as an intro to the next story see two creation stories that are very different from each other – mankind created last in the first creation story and mankind created first in the second creation story.
But understanding the first creation story to end with this verse resolves the problem.
Genesis 1:1-2:4 are a chronology. They show the order in which things were created. This is obvious by the numbering of the days.
The story that begins in 2:5 isn’t a second creation story at all – it is zoom-in on the story of mankind, the pinnacle of God’s creation, the ones He created to share in His responsibilities. In other words, now that the chronological story of creation has been told – the story of God preparing the earth for man, creating man last, and giving man dominion and ownership of it –the focus shifts to highlight mankind’s story in greater detail.
It is quite interesting to note that the creator is called “God” (Hebrew, “Elohim”) exclusively from 1:1-2:3 but is called “Lord God” (Hebrew, “YHWH Elohim”) exclusively from 2:4 throughout chapter 3.
The only exception is when the serpent speaks. The serpent doesn’t call him Lord). He only calls Him God.
As we begin this next section of Genesis, there is an apparent contradiction between chapters 1 and 2. In the order of creation in chapter 1, God created vegetation on Day 3 and created man on Day 6:
- 1:11-13: “Then God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them;’ and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day.”
- 1:26-27: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
But here in 2:5-9 it says:
- No shrub was on the earth and no plant had sprouted because it hadn’t rained yet, and there was no man to cultivate it (v.5).
- Then He created man (v.7)
- Then He planted a garden (v.8)
- Then He put man in the garden (v.8), and
- Then He caused every food tree, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil to grow (v.9).
So some will say that in 2:5-9 God created man before he created vegetation, and that that contradicts 1:1-2:3.
But it’s not much of a contradiction.
- Look ahead to v.8. It says God planted a garden *before* He placed man there. That is, He created vegetation before He created mankind.
- Also notice also in v.9 that God caused trees to grow *after* He created man.
The point is that God planting trees and God making them grow were two different acts. He planted them before man was created; He caused them to grow after man was created.
It’s also important to realize that this section of chapter 2 is not talking about the entire earth. He created man from the dust of earth (v.7) , then He planted a garden in a certain spot on that earth (v.8), and then He put the man He had already formed in that garden (v.8). Beginning in 2:5, the story moves from “the earth” to “the garden” – a garden that God prepared especially for His prize creation.
In other words, this section is describing something Chapter 1 wasn’t concerned with.
One question remains. Genesis 2:5 says that "no shrub of the field was yet in the earth . . . and no plant of the field had yet sprouted." This obviously refers to the entire earth, and it appears to describe the state of the earth when man was created.
How does it fit in with chapter 1's chronology? It makes perfect sense if the text is divided a bit non-traditionally. Here’s how vv.4-5 would read in this scenario:
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven [when] 5 no shrub of the field was yet in the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprouted (for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground).
In this way, the thoughts in vv. 4-6 are an conclusion of the thoughts preceding them rather than an introduction to the thoughts following. In this case, the lack of vegetation in v.5 is reflecting back on 1:1, describing the "formless and empty" state of the earth.
Then the Garden narrative begins at verse 7: "The LORD God formed the man...,” where the writer begins to "zero in" on the sixth day's creation.
My brain is now officially muddled, so here’s a quick summary of how I believe the text should be broken down:
1:1-2:3 - God methodically created the heavens and the earth in order to prepare them for mankind. After creating man in His own image and likeness, He rested and sanctified the day after completion. Very little is said in 1:26-27 about God’s image and what that means for man. It is simply stated as fact.
2:4-5 – Closes out the creation story and transitions us into a microscopic look at God creating man and developing a relationship with him.
So in 1:1-2:6, God prepares the world for mankind. 2:7ff – God will build a relationship with man.
