Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 1:26 - 1:31

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 1:26 - 1:31


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The Creation and Blessing of Man

v. 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.
Man is the crown of creation; the Triune God held a special council session with Himself, determining to make man in His own image, with a blessed knowledge of the heavenly Father and possessed of a perfect righteousness and holiness. Man was also to have power and government over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the animals in general, in brief, over the whole earth and over every reptile and similar animal that might be creeping on the earth. Thus the relation of man to the animals was clearly stated.

v. 27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created He them.
God made an impression of His own essence upon the soul of man, making his intellect keen for the knowledge of Himself, and his will eager to perform only that which was good and righteous. As man and woman, as male and female, God created the two first human beings, the two sexes being a creation of God from the beginning.

v. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Thus was the blessing of the Lord given to man and the power to reproduce his kind according to God's laws transmitted to him. But the fact that God gives to him the power and government over all the animate and inanimate things of the earth indicates that the propagation of the human race is not the process of mere animal reproduction, for man, as the crown of creation, is living on a higher plane.

v. 29. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Having created man, the human race, and provided for their propagation, God also provides the necessary food to sustain their life, the vegetables and seed-bearing plants and the fruit-bearing trees.

v. 30. And to every beast of the 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.
That was the food which the Lord had provided and intended for animals of every description, whether mammals or birds or reptiles or any other kind, namely, the tender green grass and vegetation. It follows, then, that neither did man use animal food before the Fall, nor were there any beasts of prey that stalked their prey; they all lived together in perfect harmony and partook of the food which the Lord provided in richest measure.

v. 31. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
This is God's own opinion and verdict of the entire work of creation as it was before Him at the end of the sixth day: "Good exceedingly. " There was not a single mistake, not even a flaw, in the perfection of God's work.