By power we act, either in giving expression to our concepts in words, or effect to our determinations in deeds. Lipman. Remember, too, that … Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his likeness, after his shape, after his … Genesis 1:26–31; Genesis 2:15. 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. middle: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and to make use of it as should seem convenient for them. But God could easily have headed up a council with whom He conferred, and afterward did the work they decided upon. ), the Syriac rendering must be dismissed as nothing more than a conjecture, and the Masoretic text be understood in the following manner. Genesis 1:26-31 Series Contributed by John Shearhart on Oct 31, 2012 (message contributor) based on 4 ratings (rate this sermon) | 10,134 views. Parashah 1 . divine Creators and Makers in the plural number, ( Job 35:10 ) ( Psalms 149:2 He is to be allied to heaven as no other creature on earth is. As the earth produced them at the creative word of God, the different individuals and generations would also have passed away and returned to the bosom of the earth, without violent destruction by the claws of animals or the hand of man, as soon as they had fulfilled the purpose of their existence. "In our image, after our likeness." 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. 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… 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. 119. The Eternal Being is essentially self-manifesting. By reason we apprehend concrete things in perception and consciousness, and cognize abstract truth, both metaphysical and moral. Nizzachon, p. 5. declare a plurality, and are expressive of others, being Copyright © 2021, Bible Study Tools. God saw His work, and behold it was all very good; i.e., everything perfect in its kind, so that every creature might reach the goal appointed by the Creator, and accomplish the purpose of its existence. John Calvin :: Commentary on Genesis: Chapter 1 ← Back to John Calvin's Bio & Resources. And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us. Hence, we are forced to conclude that the plural pronoun indicates a plurality of persons or hypostases in the Divine Being. for him; a consultation is held among the divine Persons about numerations. And God said, let us make man in our image, after introduced into it as into an house ready prepared and furnished way of speaking did not obtain very early, not even till the Summary: Christ is Lord of His dominion. Does the plurality, then, point to a plurality of attributes in the divine nature? 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 “tilled ground,” of which we shall soon hear so much, evidently had its name from Adam. the words spoken after the manner of kings, as Saadiah, using the Commentary for Genesis 1:26. 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. 26. These opening chapters tell us what had been desired by God from the very beginning. 27 So God … 64. fol. o ^He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all … Genesis 26:1-35.SOJOURN IN GERAR. 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.". fowl of the air; Genesis 1:26-31 "The Filling of the Earth: Man" Introduction We noticed last week that God's creatures, at the start, all had their own distinct place in the creation. Man is the image of God by virtue of his spiritual nature. But the blessing pronounced is omitted, the author hastening to the account of the creation of man, in which the work of creation culminated. Proud member I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree. am that I am, ( Exodus 3:14 ) and he Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31. of part of the creation, and for the sake of whom the world, and all In conclusion, the food of both man and beast is pointed out in Genesis 1:29, Genesis 1:30, exclusively from the vegetable kingdom. Both were weakened and defiled by the fall, but were still retained in a greater or less degree. Cross references. Bible Commentary for Genesis 1:26. Was it with himself, and does he here simply use the plural of majesty? And God said, Let us make man.] These words are directed not to the earth, out of which man was but as expressive of his honour and dignity; it being proposed he 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. our Professor Davidson, On the plural form of the word Elohim. Summary Although we are not specifically … with ( Genesis ((g) De confusione Ling. last, and beside me there is no God: and three jods (yyy) testify concerning him, that The creation of man does not take place through a word addressed by God to the earth, but as the result of the divine decree, "We will make man in Our image, after our likeness," which proclaims at the very outset the distinction and pre-eminence of man above all the other creatures of the earth. 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.). 1. Wesley's Notes for Genesis 1:26. 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). "In the beginning." Article Images Copyright © 2021 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. (f) Vet. `vau', he"; that is, to Jehovah, which is in the midst of the ten It seldom works that way, however. 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 … Fruitfulness/Growth (Genesis 1:28; 2:15, 19-20) To work in God’s image is to bear fruit and multiply … whom did he say this? "And they (אדם, a generic term for men) shall have dominion over the fish," etc. them? (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. The word "image" is translated from the Hebrew tselem, and it means "shape, resemblance, figure, shadow. When we sin we often do so with the futile hope that we shall obtain the maximum amount of pleasure at the minimum penalty. Genesis 1:26-28. 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.” 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. BUY TODAY. things in it were made, and which being finished, he is 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. . of man, as Moses Gerundensis, and other Jewish writers Now man has lost neither of these two. over the tame creatures, either for food, or clothing, or - Man is a new species, essentially different from all other kinds on earth. 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. Here, then, are the great points of conformity to God in man, namely, reason, speech, will, and power. Given the dead end which examination of the Genesis 1 text seems to have reached, we may turn to Gen. 5:3, which also uses םלצ and תומד in close proximity to each other. The arrangement was that his wife would let him out after she was insi… Genesis 1:26. A Commentary on the Story of Creation (Genesis 1:1 - 2:3 RSV) The opening chapters of the Bible are essential for our understanding of the rest of it. preceding clause, and includes male and female, as we find by the Man. doing them any damage: and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the This breath is the seal and pledge of our relation to God, of our godlike dignity; whereas the breath breathed into the animals is nothing but the common breath, the life-wind of nature, which is moving everywhere, and only appears in the animal fixed and bound into a certain independence and individuality, so that the animal soul is nothing but a nature-soul individualized into certain, though still material spirituality." What are the ten numerations? the creation, and much less in the more noble part of it: nor are over fish and fowl signify, unless it be a power to feed upon We’re studying … The teaching of Scripture, that death entered the world through sin, merely proves that the human race was created for eternal life, but by no means necessitates the assumption that the animals were also created for endless existence. that is, to catch them, and eat them; though in the after grant It is that of sovereignty. 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) Ibid. Those capacities of right thinking, right willing, and right acting, or of knowledge, holiness, and righteousness, in which man resembles God, qualify him for dominion, and constitute him lord of all creatures that are destitute of intellectual and moral endowments. Business, education, law, service industries, medicine, government--wherever you work, in whatever capacity, the Scriptures have something to say about it. 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. are not of God's privy council, nor were concerned in any part of "There is nothing abstract in it. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he … Genesis 1:26. 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. De Profugis, p. 460. Man’s body, therefore, as that of one who rules, is erect, and endowed with speech, that he may give the word of command. "`aleph', he, `jod', 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. of God. 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. 26 Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” Read full chapter. Genesis 1:26 The Hebrew word for man (adam) is the generic term for mankind and becomes the proper name Adam Cross references Genesis 1:26 : ch. On the words "in our image, after our likeness" modern commentators have correctly observed, that there is no foundation for the distinction drawn by the Greek, and after them by many of the Latin Fathers, between εἰκών (imago) and ὁμοίωσις (similitudo), the former of which they supposed to represent the physical aspect of the likeness to God, the latter the ethical; but that, on the contrary, the older Lutheran theologians were correct in stating that the two words are synonymous, and are merely combined to add intensity to the thought: "an image which is like Us" (Luther); since it is no more possible to discover a sharp or well-defined distinction in the ordinary use of the words between צלם and דּמוּת, than between בּ and כּ. 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. 2. This is to rule on a limited scale. 1, p. 754). 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.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; r male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-31; View on one page; Download (PDF) Copy sermon Print ; Save View all Sermons. - Ziegler.). 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. 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.". The creation of man and his installation as ruler on the earth brought the creation of all earthly beings to a close (Genesis 1:31). The primeval and prominent objects of human sway are here brought forward after the manner of Scripture. said, "I was as one brought up with him (or an artificer with (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.) the formation of him; not because of any difficulty attending it, plural number as expressive of honour and majesty; since such a 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. God made the dry ground and populated it with living creatures: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals. Genesis 1:26-27. 1; 2; Next; Genesis 1:26-31. This relation, however, is to be not in matter, but in form; not in essence, but in semblance. 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. the cause of causes said to "`jod', he, 15 Richards, K. H. (1992, Vol. [ _ Jesus Christ is the image of God! 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. Torah: Gen 1:1-2:3 Haftarah: Isa 42:5-9 … 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. 12:1 ) and Philo the Jew acknowledges that these words God made the water and populated it with fish. This is that form of God in which he has created man, and condescends to communicate with him. It refers to man’s moral powers, and especially to his capacity of attaining unto holiness. צלם, from צל, lit., a shadow, hence sketch, outline, differs no more from דּמוּת, likeness, portrait, copy, than the German words Umriss or Abriss (outline or sketch) from Bild or Abbild (likeness, copy). ) ( Ecclesiastes … It may be observed, that the plural number is used, "let God forbid that by indulging the body, and the desires of it, we should make ourselves like the beasts … 8:30 ) and to this ancient Adam he said, "let us make man in close of the Old Testament: but they are spoken by God the Father 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. of the breath of God by which the being, formed from the dust of the earth, became a living soul. At the same time, it was so far involved in the effects of the fall, that the natural decay of the different animals was changed into a painful death or violent end. And let them rule. The appearance he presents to an eye suited to contemplate him is his image. 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 … The rest of the world exists through the word of God; man through His own peculiar breath. p. 108. apud Wagenseil. ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεσιν, 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. 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. Nebuchadnezzar, "I have dreamed" Daniel 2:3. Pharaoh says, "I have dreamed a dream" Genesis 41:15. The Philistines envied Isaac. Carmen Memorial. 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. 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. The word "image" is translated from the Hebrew tselem, and it means "shape, resemblance, figure, shadow. "There is nothing abstract in it. And no more is this "measurement" taking place than in the first four passages of the Sixth Day of creation. In the account of the accomplishment of the divine purpose the words swell into a jubilant song, so that we meet here for the first time with a parallelismus membrorum, the creation of man being celebrated in three parallel clauses. This, as suggesting an external likeness, may refer to man’s reason, free-will, self-consciousness, and so on. And Isaac went unto . he", that is, (hyha) , "I But there is not an object within the ken of man which he does not aim at making subservient to his purposes. He begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. . likeness (Note: "The breath of God became the soul of man; the soul of man therefore is nothing but the breath of God. 98. (h) Tikkune Zohar, correct. 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. 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. A likeness to the angels cannot be inferred from Hebrews 2:7, or from Luke 20:36. - The relation of man to the creature is now stated. 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. Kadmon the ancient Adam, as the cause of causes, of whom it is (9-13) The third day of creation: the land is divided from the sea; plants and all types of vegetation … In D. N. Freedman (Ed.). 1. Denomination: Baptist. From this it follows, that, according to the creative will of God, men were not to slaughter animals for food, nor were animals to prey upon one another; consequently, that the fact which now prevails universally in nature and the order of the world, the violent and often painful destruction of life, is not a primary law of nature, nor a divine institution founded in the creation itself, but entered the world along with death at the fall of man, and became a necessity of nature through the curse of sin. 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. that says let us make, is Jehovah; I am the first, and I am the With this the legends of the heathen world respecting the golden age of the past, and its return at the end of time, also correspond (cf. Free eBook: Getting Through the Storms in Life, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. 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. These are proofs of the evergrowing sway of man. 1:24 ) so as to keep them in awe, and keep them off from 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. It is true that objections have been raised by natural historians to this testimony of Scripture, but without scientific ground. Amplified Bible Update. 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? him), ( Proverbs To expound the term "beginning", of Christ, is altogether frivolous. the angels, as the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, and others, who to the Son and Holy Ghost, who were each of them concerned in the should be made not in the likeness of any of the creatures 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.” In our image, after our likeness.—The human body is after God’s image only as being the means whereby man attains to dominion: for dominion is God’s attribute, inasmuch as He is sole Lord. 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. We have no ground, therefore, for transferring it to the style of the heavenly King. 70. fol. 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 … 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. there is none above him, nor any below him, but he is in the . earth; 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. 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. Every belief and teaching, every event, every figure within Scripture finds itself bound the measures of a pillared image. F6, which is wretchedly stupid; nor to The union of attributes which constitute his spiritual nature is his character or likeness. Genesis 9:6; 1Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9.) Passage: Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female … 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.