Part VI. God's Work on the Sixth Day

       Table of Contents

      I. V. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, etc.

      We have now seen created the heaven with all its hosts, the sun, the moon and the stars. We have seen the sea created, with its fishes and birds. For as the fishes swim in the water so do the birds swim as it were in the air. To the earth also we have seen added its ornaments of herbs, trees and fruits. And now, before man is introduced into this his dwelling place, as it were, beasts of the earth are added; and beasts of labor and burden; and also reptiles. After all these things man himself is also created!

      Man however is not created that he might fly with the bird nor that he might swim with the fish. But man has a nature common to all other animals in this respect, that he is designed to live upon the earth. For the use of ships is artificial, in the construction and use of which man attempts to imitate the fishes and the birds. For the ship performs both movements. It flies in the air and swims on the water. We are not however here speaking of things artificial, but of things natural.

      The Hebrews here make a distinction of names and appellations. They call BEHAMAH, those animals which we denominate "beasts of burden;" and they distinguish by the same appellation the lesser beasts of the wood; such as stags, goats, hares and whatever animals feed on food common to us, and live on herbs and the fruits of trees. But they term carnivorous beasts, such as wolves, lions and bears, etc., HAIESO EREZ; which is generally and correctly rendered, "beasts of the earth." But whether this distinction is uniformly observed I know not. It does not appear to me that the observance of it is uniform. One thing however is quite certain, that Moses here intended to comprehend all terrestrial animals, whether they feed on flesh or on herbs. Of all these he affirms that the earth is the mother, which brought them all forth from herself by the Word, as the sea also brought forth all fishes from herself by the same Word.

      We have heard above however that God said to the water, "Let the water be moved," etc., in order that by this its motion the sea might be filled with fishes and the air with birds. And we have seen also that afterwards the blessing of generation was first added. But here in the creation of terrestrial animals, another word is used; and God says, "Let the earth bring forth." He does not say, "Let the earth be moved." For the earth is a quiescent body. Therefore in the creation work of the fourth day, God also says, "And let the earth bring forth grass," verse 11. For God wills that the earth should send forth both animals and herbs without any motion.

      But whether these animals were formed after the similitude of the formation of man out of the "ground," or whether they burst forth on a sudden, the Scriptures define nothing on the subject; yet as Moses is here celebrating the formation of man as having been wrought by a peculiar design and contrivance of the mind of God; my own opinion is that all the other animals of the earth stood forth created in a moment, as the fishes were made on a sudden in the sea. The reason God did not here, Vs. 24 and 25, add his blessing is quite plain; because it embraces all the creatures mentioned in these verses, when it is afterwards pronounced on man, V. 28. It was sufficient therefore for Moses to say in this place, "And God saw that it was good," V. 25. But let us now approach the last and most glorious work of God: the creation of man!

      II. V. 26a. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

      Here again Moses adopts a new phraseology. The divine expression is not in this place, "Let the sea be moved," or "Let the earth bring forth grass" or "fruits." But the remarkable Word of God here is, "Let us make, or form, or fashion, or fabricate man." Wherefore this expression implies manifest deliberation and counsel; the like of which is found not in the creation of any former creatures. In those cases God says simply without any deliberation, counsel or particular design of mind, "Let the sea be moved;" "Let the earth bring forth," etc. But here where God wills to create man, he turns himself as it were to deep thought and enters into profound counsel and deliberation.

      First of all then we have here indicated the signal difference between man and every other creature of God and his high exaltation above them all. Beasts do indeed greatly resemble man in many particulars. They live with him; they eat with him; they are brought up with him; they feed on many of the same things with him; they rest with him; they sleep with him, etc. If therefore you consider their food, their bringing up, their housing, their conservation, etc., there is a great similarity between man and beast.

      Moses however here sets before us the striking difference between man and all the animals mentioned; when he affirms that man was created by the peculiar counsel and providence of God; whereby he signifies that man is a creature far excelling all other animals, which live a corporeal life; which excellence was more especially prominent while nature was as yet unfallen and uncorrupted. The opinion of Epicurus was that man was created only to eat and to drink. This was not separating man from beasts; for beasts have also their pleasures, and they pursue them with delight. Whereas the sacred text before us forcibly expresses the distinction and separation of man from beast, when it affirms that God took deep thought and certain counsel in forming man; which counsel was taken, not only to form man, but to form him "in the image and after the likeness of God." This image of God is a far different thing from the care of the belly and the indulgence of the appetite; for these things beasts well understand and eagerly crave.

      Moses therefore in this place signifies to the spiritually minded that we were created unto a life far more excellent than, and high above, anything which this corporeal life could ever have been, even if nature had remained perfect and uncorrupted by sin. For godly teachers well affirm that if Adam had not fallen God would have translated him from an animal life to spiritual life after a certain number of saints had been perfected. For Adam was not designed by his creation to live without food, drink and procreation. But all these corporeal things would have ceased at an appointed time; after a number of saints had been completed; and Adam, together with his posterity, would have been translated to a life spiritual and eternal. These natural works of our corporeal life, eating, drinking, procreation, etc., would still have existed and would have been a service of gratitude to God; which service we should have performed without any of that corrupt concupiscence which cleaves to us since the sin of the fall and without any sin of our own or any fear of death. This would indeed have been a life of pleasure and of sweetness. Of such a life it is lawful for us to think; but such a life is not now possible for us to live. This however we have still left to us: We can believe and with all assurance look for a spiritual life after this present life; an end of this life in paradise; thought for us and destined for us by God through the merits of Christ.

      Wherefore the portion of the sacred text before us claims our especial meditation in which the Holy Spirit so magnificently extols the human nature and so distinctly separates it from all the other creatures of God. For the mere corporeal or animal life of man was designed to resemble in a great measure the life of the beasts of the earth. Because as beasts require food, drink and sleep for the refreshment and restoration of their bodies, so Adam was designed also to use these even in his state of innocence. But that which Moses moreover affirms, that man was so created unto this animal life that he was also "made" in the "image" and "after the likeness" of God, this is a manifest indication of a life different from and far above a mere animal life.

      Adam was endowed therefore with