The Philistines envied Isaac. Hence, wherever man enters he makes his sway to be felt. introduced into it as into an house ready prepared and furnished our image, after our likeness": and again, "let us make man"; to Commentary on Genesis; Commentary on Exodus; Commentary on Leviticus; Commentary on Numbers; Commentary on Deuteronomy; Purchase a Hardcopy! He made them in his image so … In the will is unfolded that freedom of action which chooses the good and refuses the evil. 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. them? He begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. Was it with himself, and does he here simply use the plural of majesty? 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.). 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. our Fruitfulness/Growth (Genesis 1:28; 2:15, 19-20) To work in God’s image is to bear fruit and multiply … that is, to catch them, and eat them; though in the after grant On the sixth day, God created the crown jewel of his creation, mankind. "And they (אדם, a generic term for men) shall have dominion over the fish," etc. 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. 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. Wesley's Notes for Genesis 1:26. 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. are not of God's privy council, nor were concerned in any part of with ( Genesis 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. 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. 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. doing them any damage: and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Man’s body, therefore, as that of one who rules, is erect, and endowed with speech, that he may give the word of command. And let them rule. 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." 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. The plural form of the sentence raises the question, With whom took he counsel on this occasion? of the breath of God by which the being, formed from the dust of the earth, became a living soul. that says let us make, is Jehovah; I am the first, and I am the 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… BUY TODAY. We have no ground, therefore, for transferring it to the style of the heavenly King. . Denomination: Baptist. 1:24 ) so as to keep them in awe, and keep them off from This relation, however, is to be not in matter, but in form; not in essence, but in semblance. These are proofs of the evergrowing sway of man. The intent of the creation story is not to give a lesson in physics or biology, but a lesson in the theological order of things. Genesis 1:26-27. It may be observed, that the plural number is used, "let Genesis 9:6; 1Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9.) 1. 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 … 1. Proud member 8:30 ) and to this ancient Adam he said, "let us make man in Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Calvin • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • … divine Creators and Makers in the plural number, ( Job 35:10 ) ( Psalms 149:2 Wesley's Notes for Genesis 1:26. the formation of him; not because of any difficulty attending it, 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. Tela ignea, vol. In D. N. Freedman (Ed.). Genesis 1:26–28 26 Then God said, o “Let us make man 8 in our image, p after our likeness. 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. likeness Torah: Gen 1:1-2:3 Haftarah: Isa 42:5-9 … I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree. 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). Genesis 2:18.). 119. 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. following verse man was created: and over the cattle, and over all the earth; Genesis 26:1-35.SOJOURN IN GERAR. 70. fol. What does it mean to be created in God’s image? The author passes on from the cattle to the entire earth, and embraces all the animal creation in the expression, "every moving thing (כל־הרמשׂ) that moveth upon the earth," just as in Genesis 1:28, "every living thing הרמשׂת upon the earth." ), the Syriac rendering must be dismissed as nothing more than a conjecture, and the Masoretic text be understood in the following manner. 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. 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 … 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 … Free eBook: Getting Through the Storms in Life, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. for him; a consultation is held among the divine Persons about p. 108. apud Wagenseil. It is that of sovereignty. It is true that objections have been raised by natural historians to this testimony of Scripture, but without scientific ground. 1; 2; Next; Genesis 1:26-31. over fish and fowl signify, unless it be a power to feed upon "There is nothing abstract in it. 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. 1. Hence, we are forced to conclude that the plural pronoun indicates a plurality of persons or hypostases in the Divine Being. God created people to reflect His image. 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. There is more difficulty in deciding in what the likeness to God consisted. … should be made not in the likeness of any of the creatures Line upon Line. Man.—Hebrew, Adam. This precludes all pantheistic notions of the origin of man. 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. 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). middle: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and 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. Cyrus, "The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth" Ezra 1:2. o ^He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all … He is to be allied to heaven as no other creature on earth is. And God said, let us make man in our image, after Bible > Commentary > Hastings Genesis 1:26-27 Great Texts of the Bible. Man. Amplified Bible Update. 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. 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. We’re studying … The appearance he presents to an eye suited to contemplate him is his image. Pharaoh says, "I have dreamed a dream" Genesis 41:15. 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. October 31, 2012. De Opificio, p. 16. creation of all things, and particularly of man: hence we read of The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us. Genesis 1:26-31; View on one page; Download (PDF) Copy sermon Print ; Save View all Sermons. This edition is … Genesis 1:26-27. God forbid that by indulging the body, and the desires of it, we should make ourselves like the beasts … The Eternal Being is essentially self-manifesting. 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). Here, then, are the great points of conformity to God in man, namely, reason, speech, will, and power. These opening chapters tell us what had been desired by God from the very beginning. am that I am, ( Exodus 3:14 ) and he the likeness of the holy blessed God, and his Shechinah last, and beside me there is no God: and three jods (yyy) testify concerning him, that Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his likeness, after his shape, after his … His language therefore may be … 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. of food to man, no mention as yet is made of any other meat than 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? 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. correct. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. There, Adam is declared to have fathered a son in his own image and likeness. declare a plurality, and are expressive of others, being 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. The arrangement was that his wife would let him out after she was insi… 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. These words are directed not to the earth, out of which man was 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. part of the creation, and for the sake of whom the world, and all Article Images Copyright © 2021 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. whom did he say this? … Parashah 1 . Now man has lost neither of these two. Salem Media Group. Nizzachon, p. 5. Commentary for Genesis 1:26. he", that is, (hyha) , "I The last is Philo's explanation: διαλέγεται ὁ τῶν ὁ͂λων πατὴρ ταῖς ἑαυτο͂υ δυνάεσιν (δυνάμεις equals angels). God made the sky and populated it with birds. Commentary on Genesis 26:12-17 (Read Genesis 26:12-17) God blessed Isaac. 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. 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. This is that form of God in which he has created man, and condescends to communicate with him. 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. but as expressive of his honour and dignity; it being proposed he 1. In that literature, so marvellously preserved to our days, Sir H. Rawlinson thinks that he has traced the first man up to the black or Accadian race. And there was a famine in the land . Summary: Christ is Lord of His dominion. 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. Nebuchadnezzar, "I have dreamed" Daniel 2:3. 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. 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? 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. 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. him), ( Proverbs The word "image" is translated from the Hebrew tselem, and it means "shape, resemblance, figure, shadow. Kadmon the ancient Adam, as the cause of causes, of whom it is over the tame creatures, either for food, or clothing, or - Ziegler.). 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. Business, education, law, service industries, medicine, government--wherever you work, in whatever capacity, the Scriptures have something to say about it. 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. "In our image, after our likeness." Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31. This is important as an additional proof that God’s likeness and image belong to the whole species man, and could not therefore have been lost by the fall, as St. Augustine supposed. 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. 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. And God said, Let us make man.] ((g) De confusione Ling. What are the ten numerations? of Cross references. (9-13) The third day of creation: the land is divided from the sea; plants and all types of vegetation … . Genesis 1:26. - Genesis 1:27. By will we choose, determine, and resolve upon what is to be done. The rest of the world exists through the word of God; man through His own peculiar breath. It records One Person of the Godhead addressing another. - The relation of man to the creature is now stated. Does the plurality, then, point to a plurality of attributes in the divine nature? 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. them", which shows that the name "man" is general in the “Line upon Line: Genesis 1:26–27,” New Era, October 2015, 40. 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. already made, but as near as could be in the likeness and image 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. 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. the cause of causes said to "`jod', he, The primeval and prominent objects of human sway are here brought forward after the manner of Scripture. 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. "Image" is a word taken from sensible things, and denotes likeness in outward form, while the material may be different. For although at the present time man is fitted by his teeth and alimentary canal for the combination of vegetable and animal food; and although the law of mutual destruction so thoroughly pervades the whole animal kingdom, that not only is the life of one sustained by the death of another, but "as the graminivorous animals check the overgrowth of the vegetable kingdom, so the excessive increase of the former is restricted by the beasts of prey, and of these again by the destructive implements of man;" and although, again, not only beasts of prey, but evident symptoms of disease are met with among the fossil remains of the aboriginal animals: all these facts furnish no proof that the human and animal races were originally constituted for death and destruction, or that disease and slaughter are older than the fall. But God could easily have headed up a council with whom He conferred, and afterward did the work they decided upon. (h) Tikkune Zohar, correct. In Assyrian the name for man is also adamu, or admu. (Note: "The breath of God became the soul of man; the soul of man therefore is nothing but the breath of God. 98. There is something striking in the introduction of the expression "and over all the earth," after the different races of animals have been mentioned, especially as the list of races appears to be proceeded with afterwards. 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. 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). Genesis 1:26 New King James Version (NKJV). "There is nothing abstract in it. 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. A likeness to the angels cannot be inferred from Hebrews 2:7, or from Luke 20:36. "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. 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. Joseph study 1; Joseph study 2; Joseph study 3; Joseph study 4; Joseph study 5; Joseph study 6; Joseph study 7 ; Joseph study 8; Joseph study 9; Joseph study 10; Joseph study 11; Joseph study 12; PAUL APPLE GENESIS … co-workers with God in creation F7: and man being the principal Let them have dominion.—The plural here shows that we have to do not with Adam and Eve, but with the human race generally. 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. But the blessing pronounced is omitted, the author hastening to the account of the creation of man, in which the work of creation culminated. 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). Was it with certain other intelligent beings in existence before man that he took counsel? Genesis 1:26–27. This is to rule on a limited scale. of man, as Moses Gerundensis, and other Jewish writers 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.