genesis 1:26 explanation

His affections were all regular, and he had no inordinate appetites or passions. But there is not an object within the ken of man which he does not aim at making subservient to his purposes. The third chapter is indeed a continuation of the second properly enough made into a separate chapter, but still its sequel simply. In the day that God created man." correct. Scripture does not say more, and we must hold to scripture. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Undoubtedly there is teaching of the Spirit of God founded on the facts of revelation. Ed. "Let us make man in our image." Kisah ini pada pokoknya berasal dari tradisi Yahwista, kecuali Kej 26:34-35 (Para Imam). Thus, it appears from the very beginning that God is represented as a compound unity. Observe. "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." It accounts for the manifestation of light on the first day, and of the luminaries of heaven on the fourth, and traces the orderly steps of a majestic climax throughout the narrative. 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 admh, or tilled ground, of which we shall soon hear so much, evidently had its name from Adam. likeness. For God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth, and God is seeking such to worship Him.So the very first commandment that God gave was "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me." him), ( Proverbs And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.". The order here is from the lowest to the highest. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. p. 108. apud Wagenseil. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.". By no means. So here God states the great truth of creation; for what is more important, short of redemption, always excepting the manifestation of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Hence, when notice is here taken of man's formation, it is described (as all else is) in a manner quite distinct from that of Genesis 1:1-31; but that distinctiveness self-evidently is because of the moral relationship which the Spirit of God is here bringing before the reader. "They knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." That is why human beings, in spite of the dignity and status given them by God, cannot exist independently of God. But He will still be bearing the marks of His cross, and may be the only malformed body in heaven.So, "God making man in His own image and after His own likeness" is speaking of that spiritual nature and those capacities of God: self-determination, love, those capacities that He has given to me.And God blessed them, and he said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth over the earth (Gen 1:28). Much more could be said, but we must move on. They have conceived that, coupling the second verse with the first, it suggests the notion that when God created the earth it was in the state described in the second verse. No doubt afterwards God did as the Jehovah of Israel impose the remembrance of the Sabbath every seventh day of the week on His people. So again the woman has her portion, of which we need not say more than to point out what a clue it is to her lot in the history of the race. said Jehovah. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And if you're expecting to see Him with shoulder-length hair and a beard, and all, you may be, you may not even recognize Him. Both appear to me natural and purposed. This you can, if you will, verify in various occasions where scripture furnishes examples of the summary; as, for instance, in the beginning of Genesis 5:1-32, "This is the book of the generations of Adam." Ed. Even we ourselves, who came by natural processes of birth, are said to be formed out of clay and made from the dust of the earth (Job 10:9; Ecclesiastes 3:20). I wonder how long the pine tree could have existed before it decided, "I need to get my seeds out further" and it developed the little wing on the seed.There are other seeds that when the pod dries out they explode. How thrilling to be able to see the design in nature, all testifying of the wisdom of the God that I serve. divine Creators and Makers in the plural number, ( Job 35:10 ) ( Psalms 149:2 The fact declares itself. Fifth, it is in keeping, as far as it goes, with the facts of botany, zoology, and ethnology. In short, Christ has intervened, and this most weighty consequence is connected with it that, although everything manifests evil and ruin increasingly, God has triumphed in grace and in faith after the fall and before "the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." He prepared every thing for his subsistence, convenience, and pleasure, before he brought him into being; so that, comparing little with great things, the house was built, furnished, and amply stored, by the time the destined tenant was ready to occupy it. That any one is capable of meeting the character of God in an unfallen state is another matter. The preservation of the creatures which required the ark. It is God providing not for the perpetuation of the creature merely, but with marked completeness for sacrifice. God's image upon man consists in these three things:-- 1. Had it been spoken of in the first chapter, there might have been grave exception taken whether such an account could have been inspired; but, coming in as it does, it is exactly as it ought to be. It is not said in Genesis 1:27 that man and woman were created together; or that the woman was created directly, and not formed out of one of the man's ribs. This explanation involves what some people call, sometimes disparagingly, the "gap theory," which shows that the Bible allows for a long time interval between verse 1 and verse 2 of Genesis 1. Here then we only hear of pairs which enter. This is the place in which God has set man to be the servant of his providence in the government of the inferior creatures, and, as it were, the intelligence of this orb; to be the receiver of God's bounty, which other creatures live upon, but do not know it; to be likewise the collector of his praises in this lower world, and to pay them into the exchequer above (Psalms 145:10); and, lastly, to be a probationer for a better state. And this honour, put upon man at first, is a good reason why we should not speak ill one of another (James 3:9), nor do ill one to another (Genesis 9:6), and a good reason why we should not debase ourselves to the service of sin, and why we should devote ourselves to God's service. "Righteous" is this a question of creation as such? Genesis 1:26. And God said, Let us make man It is evident that God intends to impress the mind of man with a sense of something extraordinary in the formation of his body and soul, when he introduces the account of his creation thus; Let US make man. Will it be so always? Unfortunately, this has not been made clear enough. Certainly he did not well. Genesis 1:24). Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. The scientist may speak of the sun as the centre of the solar system, with the earth a minor planet of the sun, and the moon a small satellite of the earth. We don't know. )Gods rest after the creation of the first human couple signified not that he had become tired or inactive (for he continues to care for what he has created), but that he had brought his work to its goal. To God's appeal he answers with no less hardness and audacity than falsehood, "I know not." But they cannot produce facts, for they have none. Explanation and Commentary of Genesis 1:26 On the sixth day, God created the crown jewel of his creation, mankind. In the previous description, which had not to do with man, there was silence about the Spirit of God; but, as the divine wisdom is shown inProverbs 8:1-36; Proverbs 8:1-36 to rejoice in the habitable parts of the earth, so the Spirit of God is always brought before us as the immediate agent in the Deity whenever man is to be introduced. Its insertion forbids the thought, and to speak plainly, convicts those who so understand it either of ignorance, or at the least of inattention. The history supposes man thenceforward allowed to act without external law or government to control though God did not fail to work in His merciful goodness in His own sovereignty. This passage, of course, refers to the humiliation of Christ, whose being made "a little lower" than angels actually means "made lower for a little while," in the matter of his passion and death; for the same passage indicates that man, as he was created, ranked higher than angels, for, "Not unto angels did he subject the world to come," an honor reserved for man. It is not only what he is doomed to, but the wisely ordered place for fallen man here below. Next the day is reckoned from "the evening and the morning" a statement of great importance for other parts of scripture, never forgotten by the Spirit of God, but almost invariably let slip by moderns; which forgetfulness has been a great source of the difficulties that have encumbered harmonies of the Gospels. And the surf would sort of cover it with sand, and it had enough water inside to support the roots until they could get deep enough to get their own water source. Yet none did or could anticipate it. "Jehovah." Here on the fifth day, now, we have the more complex life forms. God has the capacity to reason, so He created us with the ability to reason. This relation, however, is to be not in matter, but in form; not in essence, but in semblance. . Yet in Genesis 1:29, God states that human beings are only permitted a plant-based diet. So God placed the earth under man's control and authority. And they come and fly right into Hawaii, sometimes they get into severe storms, one-hundred, two-hundred mile an hour winds that blow them off course, but somehow they find their way right in. See more on this in my commentary on Hebrews 2. And the same was in the beginning with God, and all things were made by Him"(Joh 1:1). Finally, it has the singular and superlative merit of drawing the diurnal scenes of that creation to which our race owes its origin in the simple language of common life, and presenting each transcendent change as it would appear to an ordinary spectator standing on the earth. "And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon earth." 56. Humans were created in God's image, with the ability to cultivate and manifest qualities that God possesses, such as love, empathy, and justice. The Bible takes a different view. doing them any damage: and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the *As Eve at the birth of Cain seems to have been unduly excited, and expecting I think a deliverer in the child whom she named as gotten from Jehovah, so she seems to me to express a sobered if not desponding sentiment in saying at Seth's birth, "Elohim hath appointed me another seed," etc. And when the pinecone dries, it begins to pop open, and the little seed falls free. In due time the ark rests upon Ararat, and then follows the strikingly beautiful incident of the raven and the dove, which has been often before us, and from which therefore we may pass on. What is the ground of God's dealings now? How true of the energetic Japhetic race that pushed westward, and not content with the east, pushes round again to the west anywhere and everywhere. II. On the second the water is distributed above and below the expanse; on the fifth the living natives of these regions are called into being. I can speak to you.Now, when God speaks, He doesn't necessarily need all the vocal apparatus that I have; a voice box, a larynx and a tongue and all of this. 1. g De confusione Ling. God, and God alone, can communicate the truth. (86) But Augustine, beyond all others, speculates with excessive refinement, for the purpose of fabricating a Trinity in man. The more expensive edition published in 2013 The New Matthew Henry Commentary: Complete and Unabridged is the full version. Kadmon the ancient Adam, as the cause of causes, of whom it is 98. Commentary on Genesis 26:1-5 (Read Genesis 26:1-5) Isaac had been trained up in a believing dependence upon the Divine grant of the land of Canaan to him and his heirs; and now that there is a famine in the land, Isaac still cleaves to the covenant. the cause of causes said to "`jod', he, `vau', he"; that is, to Jehovah, which is in the midst of the ten numerations. For it is much more exactly true than any expression that has been invented by the most scientific of men; yet there is no science in it. (90) The two prefixes to the Hebrew words signifying image and likeness; the former of which is translated in, the latter after, or still more correctly, according to. 145.] And yet, they are so exquisitely beautiful when you look at them under a microscope. The real worth of God's promises cannot be lessened to a believer by any cross providences that . The sun, moon, and stars, would certainly have been first introduced, had man simply pursued the workings of his own mind, or those of observation and experience. By beginning the words rendered Wisdom and Power with capitals, it would appear that the second and third Persons of the Trinity were in the mind of the writer when the passage was written. Those who made the Pison to be the Ganges regarded the Gihon as the Nile. In any case it was mercy to confine the curse certainly earned by Ham within the narrowest limits, instead of extending it to all his posterity. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. When it is no question of these, creating, making, and forming may be freely used, as in Isaiah 45:18. Forced to discover himself, Adam tells the humiliating tale: "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." The details are of the highest interest, more especially when compared with the predicted results in the latter day, where we see the same countries and nations re-appear for judgment in the day of Jehovah. In closing the interpretation of this chapter, it is proper to refer to certain first principles of hermeneutical science. And it is this unity between male and female, and between humanity and God, that is destroyed in the Fall described in Genesis 3." And here is another fact that I desire to bring before you. Cain was born, and the fallen mother gave the name: but, oh, what a mistake! But it was important to show its ground in the facts of creation, apart from special relationship, and that made Elohim alone appropriate in this place. The utmost possible care appears in the statement. Some think they have some kind of device that tunes on the magnetic field of the earth. * If the book were in each of these different subjects written according to that most perfect keeping which pervades scripture, and which only God is capable of producing by His chosen instruments, I am convinced that, as Elohim simply in Genesis 2:1-25, so "Jehovah-Elohim" in Genesis 1:1-31, would have been wholly out of place with their respective positions in 1 and 2. Could any person have conceived such wisdom beforehand? It doesn't necessarily mean a source of light. Why this was, how it was, God has not here explained. (h) Tikkune Zohar, correct. It should seem as if this were the work which he longed to be at; as if he had said, "Having at last settled the preliminaries, let us now apply ourselves to the business, Let us make man." It would fit with the Hebrew word "meor". In the very order of the creation the paternal solicitude of God for man is conspicuous, because he furnished the world with all things needful, and even with an immense profusion of wealth, before he formed man. Humanity was the final full-stop in creation's story. God is here styled Jehovah-Elohim; and so uniformly to the end of the chapter. "And they (, a generic term for men) shall have dominion over the fish," etc. They pop and the seed shoots out, exploding kind of a seed. If it were the same writer, and he an inspired one, it was proper in the highest degree to use the simple term "Elohim" in chapters 1, 2: 3, then the compound "Jehovah-Elohim" from verse 4 and onward through Genesis 2:1-25. It's just called a light holder. 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. Abstract. For when Moses afterwards repeats the same things he passes over the likeness, and contents himself with mentioning the image. p. 237; Boice, 1:77-79; Mathews, pp. As they lost further density, the surrounding clouds of vapour gradually rose from the earth, producing a clear distinction between the oceans surface below and the ceiling of heavy cloud overhead (6-8; second day). He created the animals, the domesticated-type animals, all after their own kind.And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. Why? Genesis 47:1-50:26 Chapter 47 1 So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; they are now in the land of Goshen." 2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. It is true that objections have been raised by natural historians to this testimony of Scripture, but without scientific ground. The world has been established now. In truth only God is competent to pronounce; and this He has done. Our . 27-27; Oswald Allis, God Spake by Moses, p. The chief governing characteristic of God is His self-determination, His will, His ability to choose and to determine His own destiny or His own mind. For in laying hold of the three faculties of the soul enumerated by Aristotle, the intellect, the memory, and the will, he afterwards out of one Trinity derives many. Genesis 1:26-28. May we seek to be taught more and more His truth, leaning on His grace! We have first the great announcement that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Does he have the form of a man, or of a woman, or both? and are also equally interchangeable, as we may see from a comparison of this verse with Genesis 5:1 and Genesis 5:3. Then we find the generations of the sons of Shem. It just testifies to God's neat, inventive genius, and being able to take same basic features and just creates an infinite number of varieties.God evidently likes variety. b. . I have the power of self-determination. The sun, moon and stars, previously hidden, now became clearly visible. It is all well, and a desirable service of love, if a Christian can happily and with God-given wisdom meet the difficulties of others; but hold you the truth yourselves. 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. It was no longer in the likeness of God, but in the image of God always. Now man has lost neither of these two. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. They are a waste of your time and my time. He will withhold no good from those who walk uprightly; and there is no other way than Jesus Christ our Lord. The passage should be translated, "Fill the earth and subdue it."[11]. Alas! The Bible demonstrates this order of importance from the outset by fitting the story of creation into a mere week, into the opening page of a 1,000-page Bible.The Bible was never intended to be a scientific textbook. "And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." Whether people are believers or not, whether they receive the truth or not, God holds to that which belongs to His own moral being. * Consequently we find that as man had hearkened to the voice of the siren, and had eaten of the tree of which he was commanded not to eat, the ground was cursed for him. Here again how observable is the transparent and self-consistent truth of scripture. The rest of the world exists through the word of God; man through His own peculiar breath. This was acquired (have you never known, or have you forgotten, the solemn fact?) Chapter 1. This truly is some portion, though very small, of the image of God. And I'll think, you marvelous little creature, you, you can fly! Genesis 1:27 is a summary of God's creation of mankind on the sixth day. So, I think of my ears when I think of hearing.Now, I know that God can hear, but it doesn't necessarily follow that God has ears. It is very simply a measure for perpetuating the creature by God the Creator, in spite of imminent judgment. What caused the change? Let them have dominion.The plural here shows that we have to do not with Adam and Eve, but with the human race generally. Adam on the very first day of his life, even before Eve was formed, gave the animals their names, and God Himself sanctioned what their head uttered. I have that power, that capacity. to their unbelief if they choose to despise or resist the word of God meanwhile. This is to rule on a limited scale. In the New Testament these unfoldings have the profoundest character, but everywhere they are divine; for there is no difference, whether it be the Old or the New, in the absolutely divine character of the written word. . There was a revelation of an infinite blessing for man unquestionably, but hardly what is called a promise. [Note: Hamilton, p. Man takes a special place in creation. There is not the slightest necessity for it. 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