. †. Gen 1:14a . .God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky
On the fourth day, God spent time up in the higher reaches of the Sky. It might seem odd that God began work on the surface of the Earth, and then before He was finished, stopped short and moved off into space. Why not finish building down here on the planet first?
Because many types of plant and animal life need sunlight if they're to be strong and healthy. At this point in the creation, planet Earth was very dark and freezing cold. The dark side of the Moon gets down to 279º below zero; so it was time to turn the Earth into a greenhouse.
Oxygen is a must gas for sustaining life on earth and a very large percentage of it is produced by photosynthesis which is a chemical process that won't work without light. No doubt God introduced a starter kit of oxygen into the atmosphere, but it would eventually wax stale without some sort of filtration system and a method for replenishing breathable oxygen. Plant life plays a major role in both filtration and replenishment; hence the need to get the Sun shining as soon as possible.
The atmosphere contains about 19.5-23.5 percent oxygen at any given time and even with all the fossil fuel burned around the world, destruction of rain forests, and volcanic activity, the percentages remain fairly constant.
These lights here in verse 14 are luminous objects; and one of them; the Moon, doesn't generate its own light. It reflects light from the Sun. But for all practical purposes, both of them shed light upon the Earth just as God intended for them to do.
†. Gen 1:14b . . to separate Day from Night;
There was already Day and Night, even before luminous bodies were created. God established those boundaries on the first day. So light and dark are conditions not entirely dependant upon the presence of, or the lack of, natural illumination. The main purpose of the lights was to distinguish the two conditions; to graphically, and visibly, show that Day and Night are incompatible. This is not only true in the physical world; but also in the spiritual as well.
†. 2Cor 6:14 . . Do not be yoked with those who are different, with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
Darkness and Light have nothing in common. They are diametrically opposed to each other.
†. Gen 1:14c . . they shall serve as signs for the set times— the days and the years;
The word for signs is from 'owth (oth) and means: a signal; such as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc.
The Sun and the Moon are very useful time keepers. The period of time between full moons, roughly 29.5 Earth days, is handy for dividing the year into major divisions. Though the moon doesn't divide the year into equal months, it is nevertheless close enough for practical purposes. If you were to tell somebody your intention to visit them in five moons, they would have a pretty good idea when to get ready for your arrival.
The Earth's orbit is handy too because it makes the Sun appear to move along a vast circular path in space called the Ecliptic. The Sun's location along the Ecliptic, relative to the stars, at any given time, is always against the backdrop of one of the signs of the Zodiac. So a person familiar with those signs, can, without even looking at a calendar, come pretty close to telling you the month of the year. That may not seem important to us modern city slickers, but if you were a farmer or a rancher living in ancient times, or even today living in a third world country, that information might come in very handy. When the Sun gets back to the same place in the Zodiac, everyone is older by one solar year, depending on their sign.
†. Gen 1:15-18a . . and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth. And it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.
Stars illuminate the Earth too. They may appear too dim for that purpose, but that's because our unaided human eyes are not all that sensitive. If you have never looked at the universe at night through a pair of binoculars, by all means try it sometime. You will be amazed at its brilliance! Some animals' eyes are more sensitive to light than the human eye so starlight is perfectly adequate for their nocturnal way of life.
The man who concerted construction of the Palomar telescope, George Ellery Hale, was dismayed at all the starlight going to waste in our world. That's why he was so obsessed with building instruments with huge mirrors to collect and focus starlight from a surface area much larger than his own eye.
The pupil diameter of the average human eye in the dark is roughly 7 millimeters; yielding a surface area of about 38 square mm. Palomar's 200 inch mirror yields a surface area of approximately 20,268,299 square mm. That is a significant gain in light collection; a ratio of about 2,895,471 to 1.
Every square inch of your neighborhood is bathed in starlight on a clear night. If you could see all of it falling around your house, you might have to squint or wear dark glasses when you went out at night.
Astronomers say that many of the stars are so far away that radio signals from quasars, and illumination from distant galaxies, takes millions of years to get here traveling at the breath-taking speed of 186,282.4 miles each second. So people have attempted to estimate the age of the universe by calculating the light-years between us and distant objects. Big Mistake!
Even if it were possible to accurately measure extremely large distances in space, it still wouldn't tell us much about the age of the universe because the cosmos was created fully functioning at the very outset. The instant God made those far away stars, they became visible on Earth— no waiting period. He just punched their light right on through. It was His intent in Gen 1:15 for the stars to shine upon the earth, and they did so on day four, not after many thousands and millions of years of delay.
But what's the point of putting all those objects out there in deep space? Well, for one thing, they decorate the night like the ornaments people put up during holidays. The night sky would sure be a bore if it was totally black. Think of the night sky like you would think of a beautiful tapestry, or a celestial Sistine Chapel. It makes better sense that way than to try and find some other meanings for it.
†. Ps 19:2 . .The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork.
The universe is simply a magnificent work of art. It was never meant to be a home for Mr. ET. Sadly, many thinking people like Carl Segan look to the sky for the wrong reasons. Never look to the sky for the wrong reasons. Look to the sky for inspiration. Look to it for an exhibit of your maker's genius.
†. Rom 1:19-22 . . For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what He has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord Him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became futile in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools
†. Gen 1:18b-19 . . And God saw that this was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
. †. Gen 1:20 . . God said: Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.
The Hebrew word for birds is `owph (ofe) which just simply means covered with wings rather than covered with feathers. It's a rather unusual word because it includes not only aerial creatures with feathers, but according to Lev 11:13-23, `owph also pertains to bats and flying insects.
The wording of Gen 1:20 may appear that birds swarmed in the waters, when in fact they never have. Some birds may be amphibious, like the American Dipper, but they don't live in water. They live in the open air. Gen 1:20 reveals the origin of birds, but not their habitat.
How can water produce birds and sea creatures? Well, it can't be any harder than producing terra creatures from the dust of the earth seeing as how the very same dust exists in earth's waters.
bring forth swarms is actually all one word, derived from sharats (shaw-rats') and means: to wriggle, i.e. (by implication) swarm or abound. Sharats, strictly speaking, simply indicates the presence of large numbers; like in Ex 7:25-29.
Sharats is a different word than the ones translated bring forth in Gen 1:12 and Gen 1:15. The word in Gen 1:12 is from dasha' (daw-shaw') which means: to sprout. The word in Gen 1:15 is from yatsa' (yaw-tsaw') which is a word of motion and means: to go, to cause to go, send away, or to bring out, or proceed.
It's important to note that water creatures were created separately— and on the very same day as the fowls. So birds didn't evolve from creatures who lived in the sea. Birds are a distinct creation of their very own— a separate genre of life in their own right, and absolutely did not evolve from some other order of life.
The word for creature is from nephesh (neh'-fesh) and means: a breathing animal, viz: one that breathes atmospheric gases to survive— whether in free air or dissolved in water. A nephesh is different than vegetation. Although vegetation is alive, it isn't stated to be sentient.
This is the very first mention of a nephesh. According to Gen 2:7, nephesh are not only the animal world, but that Man himself is a nephesh too. The word nephesh implies an innermost being, a mind, a consciousness of one's existence, a sense of individuality, and a consciousness of one's surroundings. Some say that animals are people too. Well . . they're certainly not human, but according to the Bible, they are very definitely just as much a nephesh as a human being. So I guess we could consent, at least to some degree, that the beasts are people too; in their own way.
†. Gen 1:21a . . God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms,
sea monsters is from tanniyn (tan-neen') and/or tanniym (tan-neem') which mean: a marine or land monster. Tanniyn is sometimes translated Dragon— as in Isa 27:1
†. In that day Yhvh will punish— with His great, cruel, mighty sword —Leviathan the elusive serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent: He will slay the dragon of the sea.
It wasn't a tanniyn, however, that swallowed Jonah. That creature was either a dagah (daw-gaw') a dag (dawg) or a da'g (dawg). All three words mean: a fish.
of every kind that creep in this case regards only aquatic creatures that creep e.g. starfish, lobsters, clams, and crabs. The terra creepers are coming up in a little bit.
But what about aquatic dinosaurs? Well . . according to Discovery's web site— Walking With Dinosaurs —there were never any fully aquatic dinosaurs; viz: dinosaurs with gills. Paleontologists believe there were some marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, but those animals weren't true dinos. ___________________________________
. †. Gen 1:21b . . and all the winged birds of every kind.
kind is from miyn (meen) and means: to portion out: a sort; viz: a species.
God created a variety of bird species all at once, rather than just one from whom all the rest of the birdies evolved. Man, however, wasn't created that way.
†. Acts 17:25-26 . . From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth;
Man is a one-of-a-kind specie. From just one man's genes came all the other variations of Man; ranging anywhere from Pygmies to Eskimos.
†. Gen 1:21b-22a . . And God saw that this was good. God blessed them,
This is the very first recorded instance of a Divine blessing, and it wasn't given to the vegetation, just to nephesh.
†. Gen 1:22b . . saying: Be fertile
Fertile of course being just the opposite of sterile. The word for fertile is from parah (paw-raw') and means: to bear fruit (literally or figuratively). Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, were all sterile women until they were repaired by miracles. Too many women take their children for granted; just ask the ones who can't have any.
†. Gen 1:22c . . and increase, fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.
Sea creatures exist in the most unlikely places. When the crew of the bathyscaphe Trieste descended into the 35,761 foot deep Challenger Deep located in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench in 1960, they didn't really expect to find anything living down there; but to their surprise, the saw some flat fish similar to sole and flounder where the pressure is about 15,945 pounds per square inch which is roughly equal to the weight of a block of Portland cement measuring 5.5 feet x 5.5 feet x 5.5 feet. If all the weight of that block were concentrated on an area no larger than a 25¢ piece, you'd have a pretty good idea of what 15,945 pounds per square inch represents.
Normal atmospheric pressure is roughly 14.7 pounds per square inch. Take away that pressure, and you wouldn't be able to draw a breath because the atmosphere's pressure is what pushes air into your lungs when you inhale. People can't inhale in a zero-pressure atmosphere. All they can do is exhale because a zero-pressure atmosphere is a vacuum.
Anyway, to put that depth in perspective; the dimensions of my palm and open fingers are roughly 4" x 7" which is 28 square inches. At the bottom of Challenger Deep, the cumulative force on my palm and open fingers would be about 446,460 pounds. But in water, the pressure is all around, so if we add the pressure from the backside of my hand, then the combined pressure on my hand would be 892,920 pounds and that's not factoring in the edges of my hand nor the inside surfaces of its fingers. Those 892,920 pounds aren't just dead weight, but rather, the measure of a squeeze— a monster hand-shake —that would compress my entire hand into a rather grotesque sight in no time at all.
Without the blessing of fertility, nephesh couldn't reproduce. Although reproductive systems are built into all nephesh; those systems are merely glands and plumbing without the miracle of fertility. God himself personally enabled the reproductive systems of nephesh to transfer life. That is very interesting, and to this good day, the transfer of life from one generation to another is still a great big mystery.
Although vegetation is alive, it's not a conscious, sentient kind of life. When plants pass on their life in a seed, it is not the same kind of life nor the same kind of event as when a nephesh passes its life onto its offspring. The life of a plant's offspring happens through the mindless chemistry of genetic programming; whereas the life of a sentient, conscious creature is more than chemistry and genetics, but also a spark of Divine. Therefore the life of a sentient, conscious creature has value far over and above the value of plant life to such an extent that plant life has zero importance as a life form; viz: it's quite expendable.
Some fruitarians might have something to say about that. According to one of Hugh Grant's blind dates in the movie Notting Hill; fruits and vegetables have feelings, and cooking is cruel. Fruitarians (according to the blind date) eat only things that have actually fallen from the tree or bush, and are in fact dead already. Picking and cooking fresh fruits and vegetables right off their parent plant would therefore be an act of murder according to Hugh Grant's date.
†. Gen 1:23 . . And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
C.L.I.F.F. /
Last edited by Webers_Home; 27th July 2009 at 11:21 PM.
. †. Gen 1:24-25 . . God said: Let the earth [produce] every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.” And it was so. God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good.
This grouping of creatures isn't specifically given the blessing of fertility. But if God would bless sea creatures and birds, why ever would He not bless the cattle too who are just as much, if not more, important than birds and sea life? But since they've been reproducing all this time, then I'd have to say there is sufficient empirical evidence to support the assumption that that they were equally blessed with fertility just like everything else.
The word for living creature is from nephesh (neh'-fesh); the same word used in verse 20 regarding birds and aquatic life. That word implies an innermost being, a mind, a consciousness of one's existence, a consciousness of individuality, and a consciousness of one's surroundings.
Terra critters consist of the very land masses upon which they live. They, like Man, weren't created out of thin air; but rather, God used all-natural earthly materials and ingredients already at hand to manufacture them. Neat-O
Not only are the animals and plants and birds and fishes indigenous to planet Earth; but they are part of it too and blend right back in when they die and decompose. Dead life doesn't introduce foreign substances into the environment. It actually replenishes the environment and benefits the planet.
A prime example is the rain forest. It actually lives on death. The soil in a rain forest is not all that good for farming, and those who burn off the trees soon discover that they must move on after a few years because rain forest soil will not support farming for very long. The rain forest thrives upon the decomposition of its own unique ecosystem. Remove the system, and the region becomes pathetically inadequate to support commercial kinds of plant life introduced into its soils.
The word for cattle is from behemah (be-hay-maw') and means: a (mute) dumb beast; especially any large quadruped or animal (often collective) These kinds of animals are the species from which come those that can be domesticated for Man's uses. They can pull plows and wagons, provide tallow for candles, hide and wool for clothes, meat and dairy for table, carry loads on their backs, and give people rides.
The plural of behemah is behemowth (be-hay-mohth') a word which some have construed to indicate Dinosaurs; citing Job 40:15-24 as their proof text. But even if Job 40:15 did indicate a specie of Dinosaur, it would be limited to one that ate grass like an ox, lived near lakes and rivers, and drank lots of water.
The animal to which God referred was familiar to Job, who lived in a region called the land of Uz (Jer 25:20). In Bible times, lands were typically named after the men who pioneered their settlement. The first mention of an Uz is Gen 10:23, a grandson of Noah born to his son Shem after the Flood. There's no information regarding that Uz's habitat.
The next Uz named is one of Esau's grandsons (Gen 36:28). He settled in an area known in the Bible as Moab (Lam 4:21) which was situated on the east side of the river Jordan; a river specifically named in Job 40:23. That particular Uz seems to me the most likely named in Job 1:1; which of course precludes Dinosaurs since Esau came after his grandfather Abraham; who lived a mere 430 years prior to the Ten Commandments (Gal 3:17) which are thought to have been recorded around 1450 BC. Adding 430 years to that goes back to 1880 BC, which is nowhere near the Jurassic era.
Unfortunately, Job 40:15 is the sole location in the whole Bible where behemowth is used so there's no way to make comparisons with other contexts. The fact of the matter is, nobody yet has been able to conclusively identify the animal about which God spoke in that passage; so its identity is wide open to theory, debate, conjecture, and opinion.
It's no accident that some of the animals are so useful to Man. God made them for the express purpose of serving people. Although they're nephesh, same as Man, that doesn't make them equals with Man. However, although they are below the rank of Man, people have no right to be cruel to animals. But Man does have the right, by the Creator's fiat, to take advantage of them; and to induct them into slavery for Man's benefit.
creeping things is from remes (reh'-mes) and means: a reptile or any other rapidly moving animal. Dinosaurs would've been included in this grouping.
wild beasts is from chay (khah'-ee) which doesn't mean wild beasts at all. It means: life, alive, living, raw, fresh, and strong. Chay is a nondescript classification and is the very same word as in verse 20, where it regarded swarms of aquatic life. This time chay regards swarms of unspecified terra life.
God seems to enjoy making things in very large numbers. About 200 years ago, Carolus Linnaeus began counting and classifying the world's species, and today biologists still cannot say how many there are. However, on two things they all agree: they are nowhere near a complete count, and the final tally will fall somewhere between 3 million and 100 million species. Taxonomists identify and categorize roughly 13,000 new species of life every year. Whether or not every one of the known species of life all existed in Adam's day is impossible to know for sure; what with the number of extinction's, and genetic hybridizing and mutations that surely must have occurred since then.
The introduction of the plural pronoun us into the narrative at this point has given rise to some interesting speculation regarding the identity of the antecedent. To whom was God referring when He said us?
According to Jewish folklore, it means that holy angels assisted God in putting the cosmos together. And who really knows? Maybe they set out plants and trees and dug watercourses; sort of like gardeners and engineers.
According to the pragmatist, it's merely a rhetorical kind of expression; like when you see a link on a web page and click on it, thinking to yourself; "hmmm. Let's see where this goes."
According to some, the plural pronoun means there is more than one God out there.
And to others, the plural pronoun indicates that God, although a lone individual, is somehow a composite unity— a man of many parts; so to speak.
One way to resolve this issue is to parse the words in the verse. The Hebrew word for God is 'elohiym (el-o-heem') which is, you guessed it, a plural noun, and it doesn't necessarily have to be capitalized. Translating it god and/or gods is just as accurate as translating it God and/or Gods.
So then, Gen 1:26a could be translated The gods said: "let us make Man" or as The Gods said: "let us make Man".
There's yet another way to come at it. I pointed out in msg #5 the existence of an entity known in sacred Jewish literature as The Memra (The Word Of The Lord) of whom Targums say:
Deut 4:7 . . For what people so great, to whom the Lord is so high in the Name of the Word of the Lord? But the custom of (other) nations is to carry their gods upon their shoulders, that they may seem to be nigh them; but they cannot hear with their ears, (be they nigh or) be they afar off; but the Word of the Lord sits upon His throne high and lifted up, and hears our prayer what time we pray before Him and make our petitions. (Targum Jonathan)
And:
Gen 28:20-21 . . And Jacob vowed a vow, saying: "If the Word of Yhvh will be my support, and will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Word of Yhvh be my God. (Targum Onkelos)
The Bible's God, in all His fullness and presence, is somehow a distinctly separate person than His word though they are both one and the same God and occupy one and the same throne. That rather odd situation easily justifies the use of a plural pronoun.
The possibility of the Bible's God talking to Himself may seem odd; but I really don't think that's so strange— I mean, after all, human beings talk to themselves all the time, and nobody seems to think much of it.
Regarding Man's creation; all the other creations up to this point were impersonal. Like when a building contractor erects a shopping center. It's just a job . . just a task. But when that same contractor comes home and remodels his wife's bathroom on the week-end; then it becomes personal. It would appear then, that Man is the only thing God ever created in this cosmos that His heart was really in it.
The lack of details regarding the incredible processes of creation aggravates many intellectuals because Genesis reveals so little; hardly any scientific information at all. Many, many questions still remain unanswered regarding the origin of the universe, the ice age, and the Jurassic era. But that stuff is Biblically superfluous. I think the first parts of creation actually made God impatient and He could hardly wait to get to the people part of creation because the soul of the Bible's God desires interaction with human beings.
People mean something special to Man's creator. And I believe that's why He said to himself "let us" make man. I really like that because it makes me feel special. I'm not just another mass-produced swarm of nephesh like the dumb animals and the bugs and the fishes, and the birds and the beasties. I'm somebody. All the other creations— the water, the land, the air, space, stars, and all the rest— were merely tasks; just chores. But Man himself was neither a task nor a chore. People were a Divine labor of love. The human beings were what God was really after all along; and the all rest of it's just habitat.
. †. Gen 1:26b . . in our image, after our likeness.
Because of the terms "image and likeness" there are some who believe that the Bible's God is a human being; or at least looks like one. But according to the New Testament's Jesus, God is a spirit being, not a human being.
†. John 4:24 . . God is spirit
According to the New Testament's Jesus, spirits don't have solid physical bodies.
†. Luk 24:36-39 . . Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you." But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
Moses warned Yhvh's people to avoid making any kind of mannequin, figurine, or statue representing God since no one has any true concept of what the Bible's God actually looks like in person. (Ex 4:10-19)
There exists absolutely nothing in nature physically resembling God— neither Man, nor beast, nor plant, nor bird, nor bug, nor reptile nor anything out in the void. The terms "image and likeness" don't mean duplicate and/or doppelganger; no, not by any means. Rather; they're similar to Knighthood— a conferred honor in rank and status.
Man's image and likeness of God is the principle upon which the death penalty was founded in Gen 9:4-6. Not because Man is a god, nor because Man physically resembles The God in any way; but because Man was honored with a God-like status.
†. Ps 8:5-9 . . what is man that You have been mindful of him, mortal man that You have taken note of him, that You have made him little less than divine, and adorned him with glory and majesty; You have made him master over Your handiwork, laying the world at his feet, sheep and oxen, all of them, and wild beasts, too; the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever travels the paths of the seas.
Man certainly doesn't act like God, nor does he look like God; but nevertheless, he holds the rank of God-likeness. And because of that, it is very wrong to take human life without just cause. It is just as wrong to take human life without cause as it would be wrong to take God's life without cause. Not because Man is equal with God. (Far from it. You won't see God getting drunk, beating his kids, and cheating on his income taxes). But because human life is to be respected as if it were God's own genetic posterity.
†. Ps 82:6 . . I said; You are 'elohiym (Gods), and all of you are sons of the Most High.
Aside:
†. John 10:33-36 . .The Jews answered him, saying: For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God.
. . Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law "I said you are Gods." If He called them Gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken) how do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world: You are blaspheming for saying "I am the Son of God"?
(chuckle) Jesus had his Jewish opponents over a barrel. If he was a blasphemer for claiming to be God's son, then God too was a blasphemer for ranking His people as God's offspring, and also for ranking them right up there with God.
How does being God's biological offspring make somebody God? Well, it's just simple genetics. Bats give birth to bats, coyotes give birth to coyotes, raccoons give birth to raccoons; viz: they reproduce themselves according to their own specie; not some other species. So then, if God were to reproduce, He would give birth to God: His own specie; not some other specie.
But Jesus' Jewish countrymen grossly misunderstood him. He wasn't claiming to be God's biological offspring, but rather, he was claiming the right to David's throne because God promoted Jesus' grandfather to the rank of His own firstborn son.
†. Ps 89:20-27 . . I have found my servant David; with my holy oil I have anointed him . . I will make him my firstborn; higher than any king on earth.
From that point onwards, every king of the Davidic dynasty succeeding David, had the right to refer to themselves as God's son.
†. Ps 45:6-7 . .Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of thy kingdom is a righteous scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
That Psalm clearly speaks of a Davidic king that God himself addressed as God. There's just no getting out of it. So then, since Jesus believed himself David's royal descendant, then his Old Testament studies would quite naturally lead him to believe himself God's son.
†. Luke 1:32-33 . . He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
. †. Gen 1:26c . .They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.
The word for rule is from radah (raw-daw') and means: to tread down, i.e. subjugate; specifically, to crumble off.
I saw a pretty interesting bumper sticker some time ago that went like this: "We are not above the Earth, we are of the Earth."
Well . . I appreciate the Native American philosophy behind that statement. It's very folksy. But the Bible's God decreed that Man is very definitely above the Earth, and has the God-given right to subjugate every living thing on the planet including the whole earth itself: its forests, its grasses, its rivers, its seas, its soil, its rocks, its air, its minerals, its mountains, its valleys, and even its tectonic plates.
†. Ps 8:4-9 . .When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that You set in place, what is man that You have been mindful of him, mortal man that You have taken note of him, that You have made him little less than divine, and adorned him with glory and majesty; You have made him master over Your handiwork, laying the world at his feet, sheep and oxen, all of them, and wild beasts, too; the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever travels the paths of the seas.
†. Gen 1:27a . . And God created man in His image,
Although Adam was made in the image of God, his imagery isn't precise. The Hebrew word used to describe Adam's imagery in Genesis is tselem (tseh'-lem); which means: a phantom, i.e. (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence, a representative figure, especially an idol.
The shadow of a tree is something like Adam's likeness of God. On the ground, a tree's shadow is little more than an irregular puddle of contrasts, just a patchy smirch. But when we look up, oh! the tree comes alive with color and detail. We can see how tall it is, the features of the bark, and the shape and texture of the leaves and how they are arranged on the branches. And then we notice that the tree is an ecosystem in itself; a habitat for insects and other creatures invisible in the tree's shadow. When we look at ourselves, we don't really see God at all; no, all we really see is something akin to God's shadow.
Man is not actually the Almighty's biological offspring. If he were, then Man would be God too because if God were to reproduce; He would engender a God being, not a human being. Since like begets like, then God would beget God— more of Himself. That's just simple genetics.
It's very evident, in the first chapter of Genesis, that the Bible's God didn't engender Man; nor did God clone Man from Himself; no, God manufactured Man out of the natural resources already existing in the freshly created cosmos— resources that didn't exist until God created them. So Man is definitely not of the God specie. He is a terrestrial specie of life, just like all the other creatures that God manufactured.
The word for Man is from 'adam (aw-dawm') and means: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.). 'Adam is derived from a very similar word that means: to show blood (in the face), i.e. flush or turn rosy.
Is that an indication of Adam's color? Was he a Red Man, like we sometimes call Native Americans? Maybe; but it's far more likely he was brown; although nobody really knows for sure. However, all human life, regardless of race or color, are 'adam because this is the only occurrence on record where God made human beings. After the sixth day, He stopped creating and made no further additions to the cosmos.
Man's face is remarkable. He can actually communicate with it, and is capable of expressing and projecting an incredible range of thought and emotion in his face without saying a single word; and all without thinking about it. Not many animals can do that. Most especially alligators. You can never tell what those big ol' plugg uglies are thinking by looking at their face because it's always the same no matter how they're feeling at the time.
On numerous occasions, the Bible's Jesus identified himself as "son of man" which literally means "son of Adam". That title was neither new nor unique in Jesus' day. God addressed the prophet Ezekiel as "son of man" on at least 93 occasions; and in every case, the Hebrew word for man is the same as it is here in Genesis: 'adam which is the proper name of the human race God created in the beginning (Gen 1:26-27, Gen 3:9, Gen 5:2).
The Bible's Christ is very complicated. He was Adam's creator (John 1:1-3, John 1:14) and he was Adam's biological offspring (Luke 3:38). So the Bible's Christ is both creator and creature. He came from heaven, and he came from dust. He is human and he is inhuman. He was a mortal being while at the same time existing as an immortal being. He was a material being while at the same time existing as an asomatous being. He was an eternal being while at the same time existing as a temporal being. The Bible's Christ is verily a catalogue of contradictions and impossibilities.
I think it is very noteworthy that Jesus didn't refer to himself as "a" son of man, but rather, as the son of man, which well-trained Jews would instantly correlate to a passage in Daniel regarding their long-awaited Messiah.
†. Dan 7:13-14 . . In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of Adam, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was ushered into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom the one that will never be destroyed.
C.L.I.F.F. /
Last edited by Webers_Home; 31st July 2009 at 11:37 AM.
. †. Gen 1:27b . . in the image of God created He him; male and female He created them.
Some women would be offended to be called a him. It does seem sexist, I agree; but is a Biblical reality nonetheless. Regardless of one's gender, all human beings are of the genus Man and can be legitimately referred to as a him or as a he. Bible students really have to watch for that because when they run across the word man in the Bible, it doesn't automatically indicate males.
Both genders were embodied within the male when God created Man. Though her body was actually formed at some later date, the female was nevertheless created the sixth day right along with the male. We know that because the author said; "in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." So him equals them, and the male was both the male and the female in the beginning. Man was created on the sixth day only. No other human beings have been created since then.
God mass produced all the other living things because they were stated to be "swarms". But Man wasn't made in swarms. No, he was made a solo specimen, a lone individual, and then later God multiplied the loner to produce the very first couple. Thus, the entire human race stems from just that one individual male; even his own wife; so that in reality, Eve was Adam's first child.
†. Gen 1:28a . . God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and increase,
That's essentially the very same blessing that God bestowed upon the birds and the aquatic life; and is implied to include the land animals too because they were obviously fertile and increasing right along with the rest.
Some interpret that Gen 1:28 to be a mandate requiring married people to have children. But the wording is so obviously a blessing rather than a mandate; especially since God said the very same thing to the birds, and the fish, and the reptiles, and the bugs, and the beasts. It's always best to consider blessings as gratuities unless clearly indicated otherwise. Some blessings have to be earned, like rewards and wages; but not this one. It was neither requested nor was it earned; and it was freely given without any strings attached and nothing asked in return.
Without the gift of fertility, Man would be just as sterile as a soup spoon. So it was a very essential blessing. And a very interesting blessing it is because the blessing of fertility empowers living things to pass their own kind of life on to a next generation. God quit creating after six days. So unless creatures were enabled to reproduce, all would soon die out and become quite extinct in a very short time.
†. Gen 1:28b . . till the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.
The word for master is from kabash (kaw-bash') which emphasizes coercion and force; and means: to disregard; to conquer, and to violate.
The word rule is from radah (raw-daw') and means: to tread down; to subjugate.
kabash and radah are very strong language. Those two words combined leave no room for doubt regarding Man's supremacy in the sphere of things. God blessed Man (both genders) with the authority to dominate and to violate planet Earth at will, and exploit it to his own advantage. I'm sure that's unacceptable to tree huggers and to the Earth Liberation Front; but there it is in black and white. Man answers to no plant nor animal on this entire globe. The whole Earth is Man's private property. If aliens ever come here, they can be arrested for trespassing.
C.L.I.F.F. /
Last edited by Webers_Home; 1st August 2009 at 10:21 AM.
. †. Gen 1:29-30 . . God said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, I give all the green plants for food. And it was so.
In the beginning, both Man and Beast, even the lions and tigers, and apparently all the dinosaurs too, were vegetarians. Precisely what kind of diet God intended for sea life is not stated.
That raises an interesting question. Why do carnivores have teeth so uniquely suited for killing other creatures and ripping their flesh? Well, I think it's obvious that they didn't use their teeth like that in the beginning. In Messiah's future kingdom, carnivores won't be carnivorous any more, and wild animals will no longer pose a threat either to Man or to each other.
†. Isa 11:6-9 . .The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
. . They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yhvh as the waters fill the sea.
NOTE: "the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yhvh" indicates that one day there will be only one religion, one god, and one set of beliefs about that god. Everyone's beliefs will be the same; viz: no more diversity, no more debates, no more conflicts, and no more denominations. Thanks be to Yhvh there will no more be violent religions like Islam; for salvation is of the Jews, not the Arabs.
†. John 4:22 . . Salvation is of the Jews.
†. Gen 1:31 . . And God saw all that He had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Some feel that the cosmos was created incomplete, not quite up to snuff— that it was to Man that God entrusted the task of bringing the Earth to perfection. But that is very doubtful. Why ever would God, after an overall inspection, conclude His work by pronouncing it all good— and not just good, but very good. Why would He do that if in truth it wasn't?
And besides, Man hasn't improved the planet at all. He has actually ravaged it and left it with terrible damage— indiscriminately obliterated habitat, wiped out animals to extinction, scarred and poisoned the land, filled the atmosphere with toxins and greenhouse gases, destroyed soil and waterways with massive pollution, and seriously upset the balance of nature.
It seems that everything Man touches, he ruins; and as if the earth isn't enough, he's moved out into space where in just the 51½ years since Russia launched its first Sputnik into low earth orbit, Man has littered the sky around our planet with 13,000 catalogued pieces of space junk, which is only a fraction of the more than 600,000 objects circling the globe larger than one centimeter (a centimeter is a little over 3/8ths of an inch). He's even deposited 374,782 pounds of stuff on the Moon, including Alan Shepherd's golf balls.
So; when God looked over His work and "found" that it was very good, does that mean He was surprised it came out so good? (chuckle) No. It would be a poor craftsman indeed who couldn't look over their work with pride and satisfaction in a job well done.
I believe the Bible's God knew precisely what He was doing, and where He was going with creation; and was highly pleased that it came out exactly as planned. I seriously doubt that God was feeling His way along like experimenters in medicine and rocket science. He did it all in just six days. Nobody could build a fully functioning cosmos and all of its forms of life within that tiny little time frame unless they knew what they were doing from beginning to end.
†. Ps 104:24 . . O Yhvh! . . what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all.
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