But it is the soul, the great soul, of man, that does especially bear God's image. "And God said". So, the parents fly off to Hawaii, leaving their kids in Alaska! [Note: For a critique of this book, see Douglas C. Bozzung, "An Evaluation of the Biosphere Model of Genesis 1," Bibliotheca Sacra 162:648 (October-December 2005):406-23. This he acquired by the fall. God was now producing a spirit, and a spirit, too, formed after the perfections of his own nature. Then the various species of land animals and birds are brought forward to see what Adam would call them; not when Eve was formed, but before. We have had their failure under law; we look for their stability under Messiah and the new covenant. They are a waste of your time and my time. Here he gave them, 1. 27-27; Oswald Allis, God Spake by Moses, p. The truth affirmed by Moses remains in all its majesty and simplicity withal. 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. The Heir of all things is the Second man, and not the bride. Hence, therefore, as closing all the previous state of things, where man was not spoken of, preparing the way for the Adamic earth, the Spirit of God is seen brooding upon the face of the waters. And I wouldn't mind the final chapter being written up there anyhow. Darius, "I make a decree" Ezra 5:8. This does not mean simply that certain parts of human beings such as their spiritual, moral or mental capacities reflect the divine nature. And again the design, and the variety! But yet, our year is measured by the time it takes our Earth to make its rotation around the sun. "And he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which Jehovah-Elohim had taken from man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. Others blend them together, and say there is an Hendiadys, that is, according to the image most like us. No other explanation is left, therefore, than to regard it as pluralis majestatis, - an interpretation which . What part of the land was submerged when the new soil emerged from the waters, how far the shock of the plutonic or volcanic forces may have been felt, whether the alteration of level extended to the whole solid crust of the earth, or only to a certain region surrounding the cradle of mankind, the record before us does not determine. I make sounds by the use of the throat and the tongue and the teeth, and the roof of the mouth and so forth. But I often wonder why God made such weird-looking fish, in such variety, and then the fabulous colors! There is nothing which more maddens man than mortified religious pride; and so it is here proved, for he rose up against his brother and slew him. I have no doubt that, besides this, Enoch is the type of the portion of those who look to be with the Lord above, just as Noah shows us (as is too well known to call for a delay upon it) those who pass through the judicial dealings of God, and nevertheless are preserved. The simple statement of the facts is that which is worthy of God. However, the word for "let us make" (naaseh, ) which is plural, is translated as "let us make" () which is plural in the Greek as well. And then with the coming of winter, they don't want to spend winter in Alaska -- and who can blame them. Now, as the Divine Being is infinite, he is neither limited by parts, nor definable by passions; therefore he can have no corporeal image after which he made the body of man. So God is a superior trinity. This is not a scientific technical account of creation, but it shows a loving God creating a universe and mankind to rule it and fellowship with God. The elevation of an extensive tract of land, the subsidence of the overlying waters into the comparative hollows, the clarifying of the atmosphere, the creation of a fresh supply of plants and animals on the newly-formed continent, compose a series of changes which meet the geologist again and again in prosecuting his researches into the bowels of the earth. The very absurdity that God is a sexual being renders this interpretation highly unlikely. to their unbelief if they choose to despise or resist the word of God meanwhile. On the contrary, supposing there was but one writer of the book of Genesis, as I am persuaded is the truth of the case, it would not have borne the stamp of a divine communication if he had used either the name of Jehovah-Elohim in 1-2: 3, or the name of "Elohim" only in Genesis 2:4-25. b. things in it were made, and which being finished, he is Thus a peculiarity in scripture, when understood, is pregnant with truth, having its source in God's wisdom, not in human infirmity. Does the plurality, then, point to a plurality of attributes in the divine nature? Most wisely all such details awaited the unfolding of another day. "And if thou doest not well," it is said, "sin lieth at the door." We all know how apt man has been to forget the truth how often might takes advantage of right! 56. First, It exhibits the consistency of the whole narrative in itself. Being the truth, whatever man discovers that is true will never clash with it. But what characterises this scene is not the state in which man as such was this we had in Genesis 3:1-24 but what man did in that fallen state, and more especially what he did in presence of God and faith. plural number as expressive of honour and majesty; since such a We see introduced, without more delay upon the scene, one too well and yet too little known, the active, audacious, most subtle adversary of God and man, the serpent from whom sin and misery result, as the Bible witnesses from the beginning to the end who is here first brought in a few quiet words before us. Noah might have been enabled to shut himself in; but how much more blessed that Jehovah should do it! Such was his relation to the creature; he was put in that place by God. See his Works, vol. And let them rule. "Jehovah-Elohim took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." It cannot be believed that God discussed the creation with the angels and included them as participants in His decision to create man. Let it suffice to refer to the great principle, remembering that the theatre of the ages or dispensations of God is the world since the flood. Genesis 2:1-3; Genesis 2:1-3, taking the Sabbath as the necessary complement of the week, and therefore going on with the preceding six days, not with what follows. God, and God alone, can communicate the truth. A numerous lasting family, to enjoy this inheritance, pronouncing a blessing upon them, in virtue of which their posterity should extend to the utmost corners of the earth and continue to the utmost period of time. He rested just from His creation. When it says that God sits above the circle of the earth (Isaiah 40:22), it does not mean that he sits in space somewhere above the horizon, but that he is the sovereign Lord of the universe. According to the account of creation in Genesis 1, the chief purpose of God in creating man is to bless him. And to every beast of earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so (Gen 1:29-30). And here is another fact that I desire to bring before you. 133.]. Tela ignea, vol. And we really don't know what He looked like. As to how, when, and why it was, there is silence. A third rule is to employ faithfully and discreetly whatever we can learn concerning the time, place, and other circumstances of the author to the elucidation of his meaning. It is not hard to conceive both that they had a common source before they parted, and that the garden of Eden may have been of considerable extent. He therefore restricts the image of God to government, in which the man has superiority over the wife and certainly he meant nothing more than that man is superior in the degree of honor. There are some seeds that build a little parachute. But it is and will be of the deepest interest to trace these ways of God in earthly government from the first. It is the same principle inGenesis 4:1-26; Genesis 4:1-26, which we find more explicitly stated in Romans 2:1-29, where God shows His sure judgment of evil on the one hand, and His approval of that which is good, holy, and true on the other. No language could express so well the truth as that which God has employed as a matter of fact. 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. But short of Christ's person and work, there is nothing more characteristic of God than creation. De Profugis, p. 460. When God made Adam from the dust of the earth, he was the closing chord of God's magnificent symphony. Man, as soon as he was made, had the whole visible creation before him, both to contemplate and to take the comfort of. The sin began with utter disrespect to a father. 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 cause of causes said to "`jod', he, `vau', he"; that is, to Jehovah, which is in the midst of the ten numerations. What more important fact about God and man would be necessary if the covenant at Sinai were, in fact, to be a real relationship? Hence the believer finds not the slightest difficulty. 8:30 ) and to this ancient Adam he said, "let us make man in (t) This image and likeness of God in man is expounded in Eph 4:24 where it is written that man was created after God in righteousness and true holiness meaning by these two words, all perfection, as wisdom, truth, innocency, power, etc. Genesis 1:1-2) mankind male and female; they did not evolve from a lower form of life (cf. Not merely with the elements of his body will he reappear, which is quite true, but besides he will reappear bodily in connection with a soul that never died. It is of great interest and importance to observe that God distinguished from the first between responsibility on the one hand, and life-giving on the other, in the two trees (verse 9). 2. God gave the right of dominion over all living things to man. I know it's night because it's dark, but I don't see the moon, because there is a cloud cover that prohibits me seeing the moon or prohibits my seeing the sun.Now, this fog, cloud cover could have been removed on the fourth day, so that the "light holder" becomes visible. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. 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. The human relationship between man and woman thus reflects Gods own relationship with Himself. And then you get into the priestly version of it. So that, they are for signs, for times, for seasons and so forth; and so this becomes very interesting.Now, if this is a process of "re-creation," then it would mean that on the fourth day, actually God did not create the sun and the moon on the fourth day, but He had now allowed them to be in their present, current positions in their relationship to the Earth, and he removed the shroud of fog, and all, from the Earth so that you can finally see the sun and the moon.Now, we have evening and mornings, where we don't see the sun, cloudy days, cloudy all day long. - The relation of man to the creature is now stated. Cain was born, and the fallen mother gave the name: but, oh, what a mistake! Leave out the fall; fail to keep it before you and test all with that in mind, and you will be wrong about every result. What joy and delight in the Scriptures! Believers and unbelievers might agree on how nature provides humankind with food, but believers add something extra, because they see God working through nature. Psalm 147:4 and Isaiah 40:26 tell us God has the stars all numbered and God has a name for them all. It is not "Jehovah" now but "God." Sermon Bible Commentary. f Vet. All the inferior powers were subject to the dictates and directions of the superior, without any mutiny or rebellion. In the Pentateuch the Hebrew term "image" occurs also in Genesis 5:3 and in Numbers 33:22. And it's not a very big kind of a computer. 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. They have no small interest; but men are apt to be hasty and short-sighted. In closing the interpretation of this chapter, it is proper to refer to certain first principles of hermeneutical science. Enoch brings both these lessons before us. [Note: E.g., Claus Westermann, Genesis 1-11 : A Commentary, p. we should have had a long introduction, and a full history of his origin and his designs and his doings. Man is the image of God by virtue of his spiritual nature. 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. "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens . and of beasts that are not clean by two." But Adam now becomes a father, not innocent, but fallen before he became the head of the race. 1. 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