following verse man was created: and over the cattle, and over all the earth; Copyright © 2021, Bible Study Tools. (Compare also Leviticus 6:4 with Leviticus 27:12, and for the use of בּ to denote a norm, or sample, Exodus 25:40; Exodus 30:32, Exodus 30:37, etc.) some for another; and over all the wild beasts of the earth, This relation, however, is to be not in matter, but in form; not in essence, but in semblance. God made the sky and populated it with birds. To expound the term "beginning", of Christ, is altogether frivolous. And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. This same word appears in Genesis 5:3: "And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image [tselem], and named him Seth.". Genesis 1:26 New King James Version (NKJV). By power we act, either in giving expression to our concepts in words, or effect to our determinations in deeds. 26 Then God said, o “Let us make man 1 in our image, p after our likeness. Pharaoh says, "I have dreamed a dream" Genesis 41:15. Bible > Commentary > Hastings Genesis 1:26-27 Great Texts of the Bible. Hence, we are forced to conclude that the plural pronoun indicates a plurality of persons or hypostases in the Divine Being. The Philistines envied Isaac. The fish, the fowl, are beneath the domestic cattle. Was it with certain other intelligent beings in existence before man that he took counsel? God created people to reflect His image. And Isaac went unto . In the spiritual being that exercises reason and will resides the power to act, which presupposes both these faculties - the reason as informing the will, and the will as directing the power. In … Just as little ground is there for regarding the plural here and in other passages (Genesis 3:22; Genesis 11:7; Isaiah 6:8; Isaiah 41:22) as reflective, an appeal to self; since the singular is employed in such cases as these, even where God Himself is preparing for any particular work (cf. By the blessing in Genesis 1:28, God not only confers upon man the power to multiply and fill the earth, as upon the beasts in Genesis 1:22, but also gives him dominion over the earth and every beast. CHAPTER 26. And q let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” things in it were made, and which being finished, he is - Ziegler.). ); this subjection might have been accompanied by a change in the organization of the animals, though natural science, which is based upon the observation and combination of things empirically discovered, could neither demonstrate the fact nor explain the process. with ( Genesis The decay of animals is a law of nature established in the creation itself, and not a consequence of sin, or an effect of the death brought into the world by the sin of man. Genesis 2:18; Psalm 12:5; Isaiah 33:10). All of the commentary found here can be purchased, consolidated in hardcopy format as individual softcover books, one for each book of the Torah, or in a five volume set. Man. the herbs and fruits of the earth; yet what can this dominion - Genesis 1:27. 27 So God … His language therefore may be … In the archetype, what God creates in Genesis 1:26-27, what Scripture impresses on us is that all things have an ontological premise in the guise of a pillared image. Denomination: Baptist. "After its kind:" this refers to all three classes of living creatures, each of which had its peculiar species; consequently in Genesis 1:25, where the word of God is fulfilled, it is repeated with every class. (t) This image and likeness of God in man is expounded in Eph 4:24 where it is written that man was created after God in righteousness and true holiness meaning by these two words, all perfection, as wisdom, truth, innocency, power, etc. He is to be allied to heaven as no other creature on earth is. plural number as expressive of honour and majesty; since such a already made, but as near as could be in the likeness and image The plural "We" was regarded by the fathers and earlier theologians almost unanimously as indicative of the Trinity: modern commentators, on the contrary, regard it either as pluralis majestatis; or as an address by God to Himself, the subject and object being identical; or as communicative, an address to the spirits or angels who stand around the Deity and constitute His council. The first thing that strikes us is the repetition of the plural pronouns in reference to God: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our … Genesis 1:26, ESV: "Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.And let them … He has made the sea his highway to the ends of the earth, the stars his pilots on the pathless ocean, the sun his bleacher and painter, the bowels of the earth the treasury from which he draws his precious and useful metals and much of his fuel, the steam his motive power, and the lightning his messenger. Also … Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his likeness, after his shape, after his … Commentary on Genesis 1:26-28 (Read Genesis 1:26-28) Man was made last of all the creatures: this was both an honour and a favour to him. In the Image of God And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Genesis 1:26–28 26 Then God said, o “Let us make man 8 in our image, p after our likeness. ((i) Ibid. ) ( Ecclesiastes ), the Syriac rendering must be dismissed as nothing more than a conjecture, and the Masoretic text be understood in the following manner. that is, to catch them, and eat them; though in the after grant Now man has lost neither of these two. The field of his dominion is "the fish of the sea, the fowl of the skies, the cattle, the whole land, and everything that creepeth on the land." 1. The soul is first, in Godâs image. But as the identity of "every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (הארץ) with "every thing that creepeth upon the ground" (האדמה) in Genesis 1:25 is not absolutely certain; on the contrary, the change in expression indicates a difference of meaning; and as the Masoretic text is supported by the oldest critical authorities (lxx, Sam., Onk. The word "image" is translated from the Hebrew tselem, and it means "shape, resemblance, figure, shadow. the likeness of the holy blessed God, and his Shechinah "There is nothing abstract in it. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. The sixth day, as being the last, is distinguished above all the rest by the article - השּׁשּׁי יום "a day, the sixth" (Gesenius, 111, 2a). (s) God commanded the water and the earth to bring forth other creatures: but of man he says, Let us make... signifying that God takes counsel with his wisdom and virtue purposing to make an excellent work above all the rest of his creation. preceding clause, and includes male and female, as we find by the The image of God consists, therefore, in the spiritual personality of man, though not merely in unity of self-consciousness and self-determination, or in the fact that man was created a consciously free Ego; for personality is merely the basis and form of the divine likeness, not its real essence. am that I am, ( Exodus 3:14 ) and he It was not till after the flood, that men received authority from God to employ the flesh of animals as well as the green herb as food (Genesis 9:3); and the fact that, according to the biblical view, no carnivorous animals existed at the first, may be inferred from the prophetic announcements in Isaiah 11:6-8; Isaiah 65:25, where the cessation of sin and the complete transformation of the world into the kingdom of God are described as being accompanied by the cessation of slaughter and the eating of flesh, even in the case of the animal kingdom. fowl of the air; introduced into it as into an house ready prepared and furnished Again, as even in the present order of nature the excessive increase of the vegetable kingdom is restrained, not merely by the graminivorous animals, but also by the death of the plants themselves through the exhaustion of their vital powers; so the wisdom of the Creator could easily have set bounds to the excessive increase of the animal world, without requiring the help of huntsmen and beasts of prey, since many animals even now lose their lives by natural means, without being slain by men or eaten by beasts of prey. 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νάμεÏιν, over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. [ _ Jesus Christ is the image of God! Summary: Christ is Lord of His dominion. to the Son and Holy Ghost, who were each of them concerned in the Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” Explanation and Commentary of Genesis 1:26. Genesis 2:18.). 70. fol. Proud member
But the blessing pronounced is omitted, the author hastening to the account of the creation of man, in which the work of creation culminated. Hence, wherever man enters he makes his sway to be felt. And there was a famine in the land . Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. There is more difficulty in deciding in what the likeness to God consisted. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Yet man was made the same day that the beasts were; his body was made of the same earth with theirs; and while he is in the body, he inhabits the same earth with them. should be made not in the likeness of any of the creatures F8; and they also speak F9 of Adam 12:1 ) and Philo the Jew acknowledges that these words Man is the masterpiece of God’s handiwork. Remember, too, that … over fish and fowl signify, unless it be a power to feed upon It may be observed, that the plural number is used, "let them", which shows that the name "man" is general in the preceding clause, and includes male and female, as we find by the following verse man was created: and over the cattle, and over all the earth; over the tame creatures, either for food, or clothing, or carriage, or for all of them, some of them for one thing, and some for another; and over all the wild beasts of the earth, which seem to be meant by the phrase, "over all the earth"; that is, over all the beasts of the earth, as appears by comparing it with Genesis 1:24 so as to keep them in awe, and keep them off from doing them any damage: and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; to make use of it as should seem convenient for them. Wesley's Notes for Genesis 1:26. The word "image" is translated from the Hebrew tselem, and it means "shape, resemblance, figure, shadow. 8:30 ) and to this ancient Adam he said, "let us make man in carriage, or for all of them, some of them for one thing, and Bible Commentary for Genesis 1:26. to make use of it as should seem convenient for them. בּ and כּ are also equally interchangeable, as we may see from a comparison of this verse with Genesis 5:1 and Genesis 5:3. The union of attributes which constitute his spiritual nature is his character or likeness. We gather from the present chapter that God is a spirit Genesis 1:2, that he thinks, speaks, wills, and acts (Genesis 1:3-4, etc.). them", which shows that the name "man" is general in the of God. Be it observed, for the encouragement of poor tenants who occupy other people's lands, and are honest and industrious, that God blessed him with a great increase. I once heard the story of a man and his wife who decided to go to a drive-in movie. "There is nothing abstract in it. Sun, moon, and stars are but "the … By speech we make certain easy and sensible acts of our own the signs of the various objects of our contemplative faculties to ourselves and others. I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree. "Image" is a word taken from sensible things, and denotes likeness in outward form, while the material may be different. middle: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and This concrete essence of the divine likeness was shattered by sin; and it is only through Christ, the brightness of the glory of God and the expression of His essence (Hebrews 1:3), that our nature is transformed into the image of God again (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24). The plural form of the sentence raises the question, With whom took he counsel on this occasion? This precludes all pantheistic notions of the origin of man. According to this, God determined to give to the man about to be created in His likeness the supremacy, not only over the animal world, but over the earth itself; and this agrees with the blessing in Genesis 1:28, where the newly created man is exhorted to replenish the earth and subdue it; whereas, according to the conjecture of the Syriac, the subjugation of the earth by man would be omitted from the divine decree. Bless/Blessing. With that as a theological and biblical background, let’s go to Genesis 1:26-31 and see why God created people, namely, ... God created people to reflect His image, to rule over creation, and to reproduce godly offspring. earth; Let them have dominion.âThe plural here shows that we have to do not with Adam and Eve, but with the human race generally. There, Adam is declared to have fathered a son in his own image and likeness. of man, as Moses Gerundensis, and other Jewish writers The order here is from the lowest to the highest. Gesenius on Isaiah 11:6-8). 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [] all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” It is that of sovereignty. When we sin we often do so with the futile hope that we shall obtain the maximum amount of pleasure at the minimum penalty. God forbade him to go to Egypt and also promised to be with him and protect him in Canaan. Man is to eat of "every seed-bearing herb on the face of all the earth, and every tree on which there are fruits containing seed," consequently of the productions of both field and tree, in other words, of corn and fruit; the animals are to eat of "every green herb," i.e., of vegetables or green plants, and grass. (Comp. This act of creation, too, like all that precede it, is shown by the divine word "good" to be in accordance with the will of God. p. 108. apud Wagenseil. The Trinity doctrine is more fully developed in the remainder of Scripture although the Old Testament has foreshadowed it in various passages Psalm 110:1; Isaiah 63:7, 9-10; Proverbs 30:4). Genesis 1:26-27. It is here explanatory of image, and seems to show that this term is to be taken in a figurative sense, to denote not a material but a spiritual conformity to God. the angels, as the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, and others, who made, as consulting with it, and to be assisting in the formation "Likeness" is a more general term, indicating resemblance in any quality, external or internal. The primeval and prominent objects of human sway are here brought forward after the manner of Scripture. It seldom works that way, however. F6, which is wretchedly stupid; nor to God forbid that by indulging the body, and the desires of it, we should make ourselves like the beasts … Darius, "I make a decree" Ezra 5:8. is, over all the beasts of the earth, as appears by comparing it Was it with himself, and does he here simply use the plural of majesty? The arrangement was that his wife would let him out after she was insi… But God could easily have headed up a council with whom He conferred, and afterward did the work they decided upon. 2. Although in the animal kingdom, as it at present exists, many varieties are so organized that they live exclusively upon the flesh of other animals, which they kill and devour; this by no means necessitates the conclusion, that the carnivorous beasts of prey were created after the fall, or the assumption that they were originally intended to feed upon flesh, and organized accordingly. Bible > Commentaries > Genesis 1:26 Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 64. fol. The Theology of Work Bible Commentary is an in-depth Bible study tool put together by a group of biblical scholars, pastors, and workplace Christians to help you discover what the whole Bible--from Genesis to Revelation--says about work. of the breath of God by which the being, formed from the dust of the earth, became a living soul. our image, after our likeness": and again, "let us make man"; to Observe, That man was made last of all the creatures, which was both an honour and a favour to him: an honour, for the creation was to advance from that which was less perfect, to that which was more so … And no more is this "measurement" taking place than in the first four passages of the Sixth Day of creation. It is true that objections have been raised by natural historians to this testimony of Scripture, but without scientific ground. While several scholars have emphasized the physicality which this passage highlights with regard to the Hebrew meaning of both םלצ and תומד, it is actually suggestive of far more: this statement, which connects the םלצ and תומד of Seth to his father and begett… Genesis 26:1, here, announced that Isaac went unto Abimelech, but that was not "on the way" to Egypt from Beersheba, and so we must understand Genesis 26:2-5 as a parenthesis explaining why Isaac went to Abimelech (Genesis 26:1) and dwelt in Gerar (Genesis 26:5). But there is not an object within the ken of man which he does not aim at making subservient to his purposes. The last and greatest victory of all is over the wild animals, which are included under the class of creepers that are prone in their posture, and move in a creeping attitude over the land. 1:26-28 We have here the second part of the sixth day's work, the creation of man, which we are in a special manner concerned to take notice of. the words spoken after the manner of kings, as Saadiah, using the Cross references. co-workers with God in creation F7: and man being the principal Certainly not in the bodily form, the upright position, or commanding aspect of the man, since God has no bodily form, and the man's body was formed from the dust of the ground; nor in the dominion of man over nature, for this is unquestionably ascribed to man simply as the consequence or effluence of his likeness to God. De Profugis, p. 460. BUY TODAY. Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31. And if natural science cannot boast that in any one of its many branches it has discovered all the phenomena connected with the animal and human organism of the existing world, how could it pretend to determine or limit the changes through which this organism may have passed in the course of thousands of years? Lipman. In our image, after our likeness.âThe human body is after Godâs image only as being the means whereby man attains to dominion: for dominion is Godâs attribute, inasmuch as He is sole Lord. This, too, agrees with the whole bearing of the first chapter, which deals in a large general way with genera and species, and not with individuals. The distinction drawn between אתו (in the image of God created He him) and אתם (as man and woman created He them) must not be overlooked. What does it mean to be created in God’s image? For, to reply to the last objection first, geology has offered no conclusive evidence of its doctrine, that the fossil remains of beasts of prey and bones with marks of disease belong to a pre-Adamite period, but has merely inferred it from the hypothesis already mentioned of successive periods of creation. whom did he say this? Article Images Copyright © 2021 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. Man.âHebrew, Adam. 1. Moreover, this view is irreconcilable with the words "in our image, after our likeness;" since man was created in the image of God alone (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:1), and not in the image of either the angels, or God and the angels. Gerar--The pressure of famine in Canaan forced Isaac with his family and flocks to migrate into the land of the Philistines, where he was exposed to personal danger, as his father had been on account of his wife's beauty; but through the seasonable interposition of Providence, he was preserved … numerations. These words are directed not to the earth, out of which man was Does the plurality, then, point to a plurality of attributes in the divine nature? Joseph study 12 Genesis 50:1-26; Joseph - Additional Notes Used to prepare the preceding studies: Each is about 20-30 pages and corresponds to the preceding studies in Genesis. They thought the price was too high and plotted to put one over on the management of the theater. - Man is a new species, essentially different from all other kinds on earth. By will we choose, determine, and resolve upon what is to be done. What are the ten numerations? By reason we apprehend concrete things in perception and consciousness, and cognize abstract truth, both metaphysical and moral. 15 Richards, K. H. (1992, Vol. close of the Old Testament: but they are spoken by God the Father Gen 1:1. Amplified Bible Update. It is hopeless to attempt any derivation of the name, as it must have existed before any of the verbs and nouns from which commentators attempt to give it a meaning; and the adâmâh, or âtilled ground,â of which we shall soon hear so much, evidently had its name from Adam. And God said, Let us make man.] These opening chapters tell us what had been desired by God from the very beginning. This supposition cannot be admitted; because the expression "let us make" is an invitation to create, which is an incommunicable attribute of the Eternal One, and because the phrases, "our image, our likeness," when transferred into the third person of narrative, become "his image, the image of God," and thus limit the pronouns to God himself. On the sixth day, God created the crown jewel of his creation, mankind. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness These words are directed not to the earth, out of which man was made, as consulting with it, and to be assisting in the formation of man, as Moses Gerundensis, and other Jewish writers F6, which is wretchedly stupid; nor to the angels, as the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, and others, who are not of God's privy council, nor were concerned … Genesis 1:26–27. last, and beside me there is no God: and three jods (yyy) testify concerning him, that of food to man, no mention as yet is made of any other meat than 1:26-28 We have here the second part of the sixth day's work, the creation of man, which we are in a special manner concerned to take notice of. This consists rather in the fact, that the man endowed with free self-conscious personality possesses, in his spiritual as well as corporeal nature, a creaturely copy of the holiness and blessedness of the divine life. "In the beginning." Commentary for Genesis 1:26. Professor Davidson, On the plural form of the word Elohim. In conclusion, the food of both man and beast is pointed out in Genesis 1:29, Genesis 1:30, exclusively from the vegetable kingdom. This is important as an additional proof that Godâs likeness and image belong to the whole species man, and could not therefore have been lost by the fall, as St. Augustine supposed. over the He made them in his image so … Genesis 26:1-35.SOJOURN IN GERAR. He begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. the creation, and much less in the more noble part of it: nor are It refers to manâs moral powers, and especially to his capacity of attaining unto holiness. of
In Genesis 1:26, the verb “make” in the phrase “Let us make” is plural, and so the “us” is not a plural of majesty; it is God speaking to others about making mankind. which seem to be meant by the phrase, "over all the earth"; that "And they (אדם, a generic term for men) shall have dominion over the fish," etc. And God said, let us make man in our image, after 3:22; 11:7; Isa. Only a plurality of persons can justify the phrase. Genesis 1:26-28. God made the water and populated it with fish. Business, education, law, service industries, medicine, government--wherever you work, in whatever capacity, the Scriptures have something to say about it. Genesis 1:26. In the man Christ Jesus both were perfect; and fallen man, when new-created in Christ, attains actually to that perfection which was his only potentially at his first creation, and to which Adam never did attain. This is to rule on a limited scale. De Opificio, p. 16. God made the dry ground and populated it with living creatures: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals. This cannot be, because a plurality of qualities exists in everything, without at all leading to the application of the plural number to the individual, and because such a plurality does not warrant the expression, "let us make." divine Creators and Makers in the plural number, ( Job 35:10 ) ( Psalms 149:2 The Jews sometimes say, that Adam and Eve were created in It records One Person of the Godhead addressing another. If, in consequence of the curse pronounced upon the earth after the sin of man, who was appointed head and lord of nature, the whole creation was subjected to vanity and the bondage of corruption (Romans 8:20. No other explanation is left, therefore, than to regard it as pluralis majestatis, - an interpretation which comprehends in its deepest and most intensive form (God speaking of Himself and with Himself in the plural number, not reverentiae causa, but with reference to the fullness of the divine powers and essences which He possesses) the truth that lies at the foundation of the trinitarian view, viz., that the potencies concentrated in the absolute Divine Being are something more than powers and attributes of God; that they are hypostases, which in the further course of the revelation of God in His kingdom appeared with more and more distinctness as persons of the Divine Being. For Moses simply intends to assert that the world was not perfected at its very commencement, in the manner in which it is now seen, but that it was created an empty chaos of heaven and earth. The rest of the world exists through the word of God; man through His own peculiar breath. 26. and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air; that is, to catch them, and eat them; though in the after grant of food to man, no mention as yet is made of any other meat than the herbs and fruits of the earth; yet what can this dominion over fish and fowl signify, unless it be a power to feed upon them? If this appearance were actually the fact, it would be impossible to escape the conclusion that the text is faulty, and that חיּת has fallen out; so that the reading should be, "and over all the wild beasts of the earth," as the Syriac has it. (h) Tikkune Zohar, correct. correct. … And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he … In the reason is evolved the distinction of good and evil Genesis 1:4, Genesis 1:31, which is in itself the approval of the former and the disapproval of the latter. Genesis 1:26-31; View on one page; Download (PDF) Copy sermon Print ; Save View all Sermons. . By the application of the term "good" to everything that God made, and the repetition of the word with the emphasis "very" at the close of the whole creation, the existence of anything evil in the creation of God is absolutely denied, and the hypothesis entirely refuted, that the six days' work merely subdued and fettered an ungodly, evil principle, which had already forced its way into it. . In Assyrian the name for man is also adamu, or admu. creation of all things, and particularly of man: hence we read of Genesis 1:26: ^Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. … But although such passages as 1 Kings 22:19., Psalm 89:8, and Daniel 10, show that God, as King and Judge of the world, is surrounded by heavenly hosts, who stand around His throne and execute His commands, the last interpretation founders upon this rock: either it assumes without sufficient scriptural authority, and in fact in opposition to such distinct passages as Genesis 2:7, Genesis 2:22; Isaiah 40:13 seq., Genesis 44:24, that the spirits took part in the creation of man; or it reduces the plural to an empty phrase, inasmuch as God is made to summon the angels to cooperate in the creation of man, and then, instead of employing them, is represented as carrying out the work alone. The word אתם, which indicates that God created the man and woman as two human beings, completely overthrows the idea that man was at first androgynous (cf.