by Timothy W. Burnett
The words "life", "creature" and "soul" are used many times in Genesis chapter. Both English words are translations of the same ancient Hebrew word nephesh, which simply referred to the breath life in the animals. In other words they were living, oxygen breathing creatures. A more exhaustive study of the word nephesh will show that the soul life of any creature only continues to exist when passed on to progeny. Otherwise it ceases to exist upon the death of the creature.
Moving on to verse 21, "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind. And God saw that it was good." The word "whales" simply refers to fish in general.
Last week's column included a statement that should be corrected. God did actually create something new during the repairing process. The use of "created" seems to suggest that "great fish" and other living creatures in the waters did not exist on earth while in its original state.
"And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth'" (verse 22). In other words, they were designed to pass down soul life from generation to generation, growing in numbers.
Pressing on to verse 24, "And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind.'" The word earth referred to the ground. The word "cattle" basically encompasses all animals such as livestock and other wild beasts.
The phrase "after his kind" refers to each creature having the ability to pro-create and multiply from within its species. This is significant when compared to the more recent philosophical theories related to cross-species evolution.
"And God made the beast of the earth after his kind. And the cattle after their kind. And everything that creeps upon the earth after his kind. And God said that it was good" (verse 25). This basically re-emphasizes what God did and how each creature was designed to pro-create after its own kind or species, finishing with the wonderful words, "And it was Good." What God made was good.
God�s purpose for making the creatures is found in Genesis 2:18, �And the Lord said, �It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him an helper.�� According to verse 2:19-20, God allowed Adam to name the animals.
God made the herbs and plants to be freely eaten by mankind (see Genesis 2:9). There is no record of God originally giving mankind the word to freely eat the animals. Our readers who continue to read through the Old Testament will find that God's people were later given permission to eat the meat of certain animals. The conditions changed again during the age of the grace of God that we live in now because of the liberty that Christians have in Christ Jesus.
Next week we will look at the record of God making mankind.
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