to allow for the creation of both sexes of humanity, with a stress put on these sexes by placement at the head of the clause in front extra position. This description of God’s creation of male and female humans in 1:27b then serves as a bridge between God’s creation of humans in 1:26–27a and God’s call on them to “be fruitful and multiply,” thus preparing for this multiplication blessing in 1:28.107 Notably the plural form begun in Gen 1:27b forms the background for God’s address to humans in the plural in Gen 1:28, blessing “them” and now giving commands to male and female humanity in plural imperatives.
Finally, it should be noted that we see a particular intensity of potential echoes of Gen 2–3 in this climactic final portion of P’s creation report. This starts with a parallel in formulation between Gen 1:26 and Gen 3:22. God’s consultation with the divine council about making humans as God images in Gen 1:26 and Yhwh’s consultation with the divine council about the problem posed by human godlikeness in Gen 3:22. Whereas Gen 2–3 concludes with Yhwh’s consultation with an unspecified plural group (the divine council) about the threat posed by human godlikeness (Gen 3:22), Gen 1 concludes with God consulting with a similar unspecified plural group about a plan to make humans as god images (Gen 1:26).108 In addition, a dependence of Gen 1 on Gen 2–3 at this point could explain why the Priestly description of God’s creation of humanity in 1:27 initially describes God as creating “the humanity” (האדם; cf. אדם in 1:26), a possible blind motif left in Gen 1 of the focus across Gen 2–3 on “the human” (האדם; 2:7, 8, passim).109 Finally, the description of human creation in Gen 1 and Gen 2–3 are both distinguished from a number of other such accounts in the Near East by their emphasis on the creation of male and female humans (Gen 1:27; 2:21–23) along with a related focus on intense human multiplication (Gen 1:28; 3:16). Seeing these various links of Gen 1 to its likely Gen 2–3 precursor can help the reader of Gen 1 appreciate how its author reconfigured themes in its precursor text in the process of also pointedly opposing certain aspects of it (e.g., the depiction of the divine response to human godlikeness in Gen 3:22).
1:29–30a. Provision of Different Vegetable Foods for Humans and Other Land AnimalsOne other element that Gen 1 shares with Gen 2–3 that is lacking in most other accounts of human creation is a set of divine instructions about permitted foods, indeed one highlighting tree fruit as one major type of human food (Gen 1:29–30a; cf. Gen 2:16–17). In this case, God’s speech to humans about food allowed for humans and animals continues the plural address to humans as a group (לכם in both 29a and 29b) initiated in 1:28 and prepared for by the description of two-sexed humanity in 1:27b. Nevertheless, the speech to humans in Gen 1:29–30 is distinguished from the prior one in 1:28 by the fact that the prior one is introduced as a “blessing” (ויברך אתם) while this one is just speech (ויאמר).
The initial and primary content of the overall speech in Gen 1:29–30 is God’s declaration that humans are allowed to eat both of the sorts of plants that God had created on day three, both seed-bearing vegetation (עשב זרע זרע; cf. עשב מזריע זרע ]למינהו[ in 1:11–12) and trees that have fruit with seeds in them (העץ אשר בו פרי עץ זרע זרע; cf. עץ פרי עשה פרי 1:11 and עץ עשה פרי אשר זרעו בו למניהו 1:12). Using language with echoes of a legal proclamation that effects a state of affairs, God starts with the untranslatable deictic interjection הנה (something like the French voila; here “see!”) and then uses the suffix form of the verb נתן (“give”) to state that these two types of vegetation have now been given to humans. God’s mention in 1:29 of both types of plants featured in plant creation of Gen 1:11–12, with the same wording and in the same order, implies that humans are given all plantlife for food.110 This would correspond to the sovereign place of humans as godlike rulers over God’s cosmos.
Genesis 1:30a continues God’s speech about food to humans, but shifts to tell humans about foods that earth’s animals are allowed to eat. The specific focus on animal food is highlighted by the prepositional phrase at the outset, indicating that this instruction excludes fish, focusing on restricting food for land-based animals—animals, birds, and creepers [likely various sorts of insects and reptiles]. The term used for their food, ירק עשב (“green vegetation”), indicates that these animals are only allowed to eat the grass or leaves on plants, thus not competing with humans for the calorie-rich seeds and fruits that form the center of most human agriculture. Nevertheless, it should be understood that this does not imply that humans are thus excluded from eating such greenery. Whatever limitation is given here is meant for animals, and God’s later post-flood instructions to humans that that they now may eat animals “like green vegetation” (9:3) implies that such green vegetation was always allowed for humans.
Thus, not only are humans implicitly forbidden from eating animals, but animals are implicitly forbidden (at least in the ideal world of Gen 1) from eating the sorts of grains and fruits that were cultivated as staples of the ancient Near Eastern human diet. In this way, Gen 1:29–30 depicts an initial “very good” world where humans and land animals should not compete for food. Later, the P prologue to the flood will note that the earth has been “corrupted” and “filled with violence,” and after the flood God will give animals to humans for food “like green vegetation” (כירק עשב; 9:3), thus negating the implicit veganism (for all earth creatures) in 1:29–30. Nevertheless, that time is yet to come. Genesis 1:29–30 depicts an ideal antediluvian world where humans and animals were meant to peaceably co-exist.
Food provisions sometimes appear in ancient descriptions of human creation, particularly Egyptian cosmogonic traditions, but those traditions do not feature this sort of differentiated divine instruction regarding human and animal food.111 Within the nearby context, this speech about allowed foods underlines yet again the distinction that Gen 1 has already drawn between humans and other living creatures (e.g., 1:24–25 versus 1:26–27). In this case, 1:29–30 focuses on creatures, created on both day five and day six, who at least sometimes live on land (including birds). This means fish are excluded here, despite the fact that humans rule them (1:26, 28), because they do not live on land and thus would not have access to land plants. Again, the issue of shared habitat seems to be primary in the inclusion/exclusion of different animal groups.
Gen 1:30b–2:1. The Conclusion of Creation of the CosmosThe sixth day concludes with several elements seen previously, yet each with a slight alteration. Genesis 1:30b contains a statement of execution, ויהי כן (“and it was so”) that usually followed the initial divine statement of intention (thus expected after 1:26). Yet the placement of the correspondence formula at the end of the day here follows God’s further blessing to humans (1:28) and instructions regarding food (1:29), as if to emphasize that these divine wishes, too, were completed as intended. The different placement of the correspondence formula here and also in (most early witnesses of) 1:7 should caution us about having too uniform a view of its function vis-à-vis other elements in the creation reports.
The statement of divine approval in Gen 1:31a corresponds to the statements of divine approval that appear everywhere except in day two. Yet where most other such reports focus exclusively on a given creation act, asserting that “God saw that it was good” (וירא אלהים כי טוב), this expanded approval formula embraces the entire preceding creation and intensifies the statement of divine approval: “God saw all that he had made, and indeed it was very good” (וירא אלהים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד). This intensified statement thus serves to provide an extra emphasis on God’s approval not only of the creation of humanity (animals already had one in 1:25b), but also God’s multiplication blessing on humanity (1:28) and God’s provisions for peaceful coexistence of humans and animals (1:29–30). Furthermore, the expansion and intensification of the approval formula in this context gives a sense that the creation report is drawing to a close.
Before this report concludes, however, we have two elements. The first is the day formula seen before, but this time with
