God said, “Let’s create humans in our image, according to our features; they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, domestic animals, and over all earth, including the reptiles that crawl on land.”6
27 So God created mankind in His image. He created mankind in God’s image; He made them male and female.
28 Then God blessed them, saying to them, “Reproduce and be numerous, fill the earth and take it over; take dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and over all reptiles that crawl on the ground.”
29 God then said, “Look, I am providing you with all kinds of vegetation and seeds that are found over the entire earth; every fruit tree that is found will provide you with food.7
30 Every animal on earth, bird of the sky, and reptile on land, every living creature, will eat from all kinds of green vegetation.” And it happened that way.
31 God took stock of everything that He made, and indeed, it was very good! Together, evening and morning made up the entire sixth day.
1. v. 1: By dynamically, I mean with incredible power and action. The Torah gives us a picture of a moving, explosive speaking of God’s energy that burst into creative action. When one realizes that there are some 100 billion galaxies that we know of, perhaps we gain some sense of the power that the Almighty is depicted as using in creating the heavenly bodies.
2. v. 4: This phrase, “God knew that it was good” (Hebrew: va’yar Elohim ki tov, literally reads, “God saw that it was good.” In ancient Jewish thought, seeing something’s true reality and perceiving its real meaning meant to “know it.” That is the sense that the text is giving to us in both v. 4 and in verses 10, 12 and 17. In v. 21 this same phrase is used, and its sense is amplified in that God declared His entire creation very good. God’s declaration that light should exist was quite dynamic, i.e., “(God) speaks” (verse 1.3). “The result is light, the energizing of the vast cosmos through the marvelous electro-magnetic force system which maintains all structures and processes in matter. These varied energies include not only visible light, but also all the short-wave radiations (ultraviolet, x-rays, etc.) and the long-wave radiations (infrared, radio waves, etc.), as well as heat, sound, electricity, magnetism, molecular interactions, etc. ‘Light,’ the most basic form of energy, is mentioned specifically, but its existence necessarily implies the activation of all forms of electro-magnetic energies” (taken from http://www.icr.org/bible/gen/). From this short description of what 1.3 entailed, we get a picture for how detailed, intricate, and powerful the reality is that was spoken into being. I refer the reader to two excellent works that explore the relationship between the biblical text of creation and modern science: one is Permission to Believe, by Lawrence Kelemen, the other is Genesis and the Big Bang Theory, by Gerald Schroeder. An excellent on-line article addresses the creation of the world from both a traditional Jewish and scientific point of view. It is from Dr. Moshe Kaveh, and is found at http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/bereshit/kaveh.Html.
3. v. 6: When the Torah states that “evening and morning were . . . ,” perhaps a more pictorial image is being given to us. Instead of literally understanding the text as referring to the entities of “evening and morning,” perhaps the text is telling us that the “time of darkness” combined with the “time of light” when combined together comprised the total day. This makes scientific sense if we think of a 24-hour long day. The Hebrew can be rendered either way—as specifically referring to actual dusk and early sunrise hours only, or to more general daily times of darkness and light.
4. v.14: “Appointed times” is the Hebrew word mo’adim. Here it specifically refers to marking off days and years; in Leviticus 23, mo’adim takes on more specified times and meanings. Leviticus 23 does not give another meaning to this same word, but further expands and clarifies 1.14. One of the brilliant aspects of the Torah is how it often later clarifies an earlier presented phrase or concept.
5. v. 21: Perhaps dinosaurs are meant by the phrase “big amphibians.” This is just a thought, and is not a popular tradition that I am aware of. The Hebrew text could also be rendered “many sea creatures,” and simply refer to aquatic life. Thus, “dinosaurs” is my translation and interpretation of the intent of the Hebrew words, but this remains conjecture. In such a reading, these “big amphibians” could have been totally destroyed in the flood of chapters 7–9 of our text.
6. v. 26: By “according to our features,” I believe that the text refers to metaphysical (spiritual, emotional and mental) characteristics, and not to physical features. To quote Rabbi Yosef Soloveitchik (d. 1993), “according to our features” means: “There is no doubt that the term ‘image of God’ . . . refers to man’s inner charismatic endowment as a creative being” (The Lonely Man, 12). I refer the reader to his work The Lonely Man of Faith for his fuller treatment of the meaning of man being created “according to our features.” v. 26 uses the pluralis majestatis, the “royal we,” in reference to God; cf. Bereshit 11.7. As the reader is aware, this plural form is used to describe one or more of the following possibilities: that God speaks in the plural because he addresses His heavenly beings (the angels); thus He is the King holding His royal court; or because He, as King of the Universe, is using what is considered a “kingly mode” of address. There is also the opinion extant that the Messiah pre-existed creation, and thus is among the Heavenly beings addressed in these verses (cf. Pesahim 54a, Nedarim 39a, Bereshit Rabbah 1.4, 2.4, 1 Enoch 62.7–9; references taken from The Messiah Texts by Raphael Patai). The implications of being created in God’s image, in Jewish thought, are incredibly important. This fact gives mankind a special purpose. As Schonfeld wrote: “By divine design, Adam has speech—and all this entails about the human intellect. If he truly desires . . . he can reach the understanding of the cause of causes in all things, and come to bear witness to divine providence affecting the world” (To Fathom Darkness, 75). Thus Rabbi Schonfeld sees the first man as a prototype of all of humanity—gifted by God with the capacity to see God’s providential ways, and therefore able to testify to His reality. The Jewish world in history has encouraged mankind to study the natural sciences, Biblical literature, psychology and many other fields of endeavor—all with the purpose of bearing witness to God’s creative works. Schofeld makes reference to this overall view.
7. v. 29: It appears that the first man was created to be a vegetarian. Rabbinic sources in tractate Sanhedrin in the Talmud make note of this in saying: “R. Jehudah said in the name of Rabh: Adam the First was not permitted to eat meat. As it reads (Genesis 1.29–30): “To you it shall be for food, and to every beast of the field,” meaning, but not the beasts to you. However, after the descendants of Noah came, he permitted them. As it reads (Genesis 9.3): “Every moving thing that liveth shall be yours for food: even as the green herbs have I given you all things.” (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Talmud/sanhedrin7.html).
Chapter 2
1 So the heavens and the earth, with all their varied parts, were finished.
2 God completed His creative work that He had done by the seventh day. Therefore, He rested on the seventh day from carrying out any more of His creative work such as He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and separated it (from the other days). He rested on it from His creative work through which He had formed His creation.
