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GENESIS-Segment 3:
Chapter 1 Verse 20 - Chapter 2 Verse 7
All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Before beginning this study, I suggest you pray and ask God to guide you through this study. I also suggest that you do you own study of this material in order to ensure its accuracy.
In this segment, we will deal with the creation of all flesh: fish, fowl, insects, animals, and man.
(Gen 1:20-23) And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. {21} And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. {22} And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. {23} And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Moving creature is better translated "swarmers," which tells us that the waters were swarming or teeming with life. Have you ever been scuba diving? The seas are swarming with life. It is everywhere, from microscopic plants and animals to giant whales. When diving, you can see millions upon millions of schooling fish. They are everywhere. The Bible is accurate again.
This KJV translation of the first phrase in verse 20 can be more literally rendered: "And said God, let the waters swarm with swarmers having a soul of life." The word for soul is nephesh and for life is chay, which also means flesh. So you could say that the swarmers were flesh with a soul or living flesh.
In the next verse, the words "living creature" are again the words nephesh and chay. So here again, we have flesh with a soul or living flesh. The word for Whale is a word that means a large marine or land animal, depending on the context. Here it means a large marine animal. It is translated elsewhere sea monster, sea serpent, dragon, and jackal.
These animals are to reproduce after their kind. They did not evolve from one species to another. It was good; God looked on it with joy. Day five ends.
(Gen 1:24) And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
This is the sixth day. Six is the number of men, who were created this day. Pay close attention to this verse. We will do an exegesis on this verse.
The earth is 'erets which we said earlier means earth, ground, world, land, country, region and other things. Here God says to let the earth bring forth. All flesh, is made of the same substance as the earth. Everything you find in flesh comes from the earth. All the chemicals and compounds of the flesh are also of the earth. "Living creature" is from nephesh and chay: flesh with a soul. The word for cattle actually means any quadruped (four footed animal). That includes mice, cows and elephants and every other four footed animal. A creeping thing is a reptile or any other rapidly moving animal. It includes insects.
Now for the real meat of this verse. The KJV translators left much to be desired when they used the word "beast." It gives the impression that God was talking about animals. But he just told us about animals, that is quadrupeds and other animals and insects. Why would he repeat himself? The word for beast is chay. What did we say chay means? Life or flesh. In this verse, God said to let the earth bring forth the living flesh of the earth. Does He say some of the living flesh on earth? No he said the living flesh of the earth. Brothers and sisters, I believe (my opinion) this means all living flesh, including mankind. Let's go on.
(Gen 1:25) And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
So all of the life created here is to reproduce after its own kind. There is no evolution. There is another interesting thing about this verse. The word "earth" is used three times here. The first two times it is 'erets. The third time it is adamah or ground. Does this word sound familiar?
(Gen 1:26) 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.
The use of "us" is interesting and important, but let us finish our discussion of mankind. The word for man is adam. It is the root word for the word adamah or ground. It means ruddy or reddish hence the brownish red earth. There is no article (the) associated with the word adam here, so it means generic man, or specifically, mankind (the entire species). It is not the man, just man. God created mankind on the sixth day. He did not form a man here, he created all men. Just as he created all the four-footed animals, fish, birds, etc, so here He created all mankind. I believe that this is where the races came from, from the creation of mankind on the sixth day. God created the races in situ or in place on this day.
This brings up questions about Eve being the mother of all living, and Noah's flood. We will answer those questions when we get to those verses.
Who is the "us" in this verse? Who was with God at creation? It is simple. The Trinity were there: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But this is not all. All the entire heavenly host were there. The heavenly host consists of angels, seraphs, and cherubs. The bible tells us that there is myriad upon myriad of angels (Heb 12:22, Rev 5:11).
We are to have dominion over all the earth. With ownership and sovereignty comes responsibility. While we are in charge of the earth, that does not give us license to be irresponsible with it. Responsibility means conservation. We should practice conservation in everything we do. We should subdue the earth and use it to our advantage, but we should not deplete its resources. We must leave resources for others and for posterity. We must be good stewards of the earth and protect it for our children. I AM NOT an environmentalist. I am not militant, and I do not want to encroach on property rights. I am simply advocating good stewardship tempered with common sense.
(Gen 1:27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The Bible says that God took a rib from the man and formed the woman in the Garden. Here it says that God created male and female at the same time. It says he created them. Who is them? Mankind, the human race. I believe that this creation of mankind took place in another place and not in Eden. The Adam was formed in Eden and The Woman was too. But they are a specific couple. Implicit in this statement is the creation of mankind apart from Adam and Eve, His chosen. They were formed on the sixth day but in a different place than the rest of mankind. They were His chosen race through which would come the Messiah. More about this later.
(Gen 1:28) 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.
A reiteration. The word for "replenish" simply means to fill up. We have God's command to reproduce. If God commanded it, can it be bad? I don't believe mankind will ever overpopulate the earth.
(Gen 1:29-30) 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. {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.
It appears that every creature, including man, was a vegetarian. If so, that is no longer true. Read God's health laws and you will see that men may eat flesh.
(Gen 1:31) And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
The sixth day ended. The human race had been created. All the races were created on the sixth day. All the races have been created. God saw that they were very good. There is no superior or inferior race. All of them were created very good. Racism is a man made thing. All races are good.
(Gen 2:1) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
All the host of them were finished. What is this host? Is it the earth, moon, sun, and stars? The English would certainly suggest so. The problem is the translation. The word for "host" is tsaba' and here is how Strong's defines it:
"a mass of persons (or figuratively, things), especially regularly organized for war (an army); by implication. a campaign,"
Here is 2:1 restated: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the masses of persons." So it appears that all the races were created and full populations of all the races were there. So when asked where Cain got his wife, this verse tells us that she came from the masses.
(Gen 2:2-3) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. {3} And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
People say this happened in seven 24 hour days or 7000 years, or some other time period. I personally believe in the seven twenty four hour days. God sanctified the seventh day, that is, he set it apart from the others as a Sabbath. Sabbath means rest and the Sabbath was made for man, according to Jesus. God rested this day, which means he stopped creating. For us it means a physical rest from our daily labors. Seven means divine completion and this completed the Divine work of creation.
(Gen 2:4-5) These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, {5} And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
Green's Interlinear Bible translation puts it like this: "These are the births of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that Jehovah was making earth and heavens--and every shrub of the field was not yet on the earth, and every plant of the field had not yet sprung up: for Jehovah God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground."
I would further paraphrase it like this: "This [coming up] is the family history of the heavens, the Earth, the plants of the field, and the herbs of the field when God had created them (in the day he created them) for God had not yet caused it to rain and He had no man to till the ground." God is retelling about the creation of Adam and Eve (though they were not given names until after they were expelled) in the Garden on the sixth day for clarity.
(Gen2:6) But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
God had not yet sent rain and would not do so until the flood. A daily mist watered the earth. There is geological evidence that the entire earth had a tropical or subtropical climate at one time. This is evidence of that. Prior to the formation of Adam, the human population was made up of gatherers. Adam became the first farmer. Read on.
(Gen 2:7) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Here is the tricky part. You must follow closely to get the point. I suggest you study these verses in depth so you can fully comprehend and realize what happened.
In 1:26 & 27, the word for man is adam with no article (the). It is the generic use of the word for man, meaning mankind. In 2:5, the word "no" makes this more specific than all mankind. God had no specific man to till the ground. But in this verse, 2:7, the Hebrew Words are eth ha adam meaning "this same man" or "this very man." Who was this same man? We are talking about the man that was not around to till the ground. The man that God formed to till the ground was this very or same man, Adam. Adam was a specific man formed specifically to farm the land. Prior to his formation, all men were gatherers.
In 1:27, God created mankind. Here in 2:7, he formed this very man specifically to till the ground. The Hebrew word bara' means to absolutely create, that is to create from nothing. Now the Hebrew word for form, used in 2:7, is yatsar, which means to mold as a potter molds clay. Creating from nothing is a far cry from molding man from the clay (the word for dust also means clay). On the sixth day, god created mankind form nothing; here, he molds Adam from clay. So Adam is separate from the rest of mankind, not better or superior, but separate. He was a human, but molded to fit God's specifications. He is a separate race.
Some teach that this is the eighth day. It would seem to follow that this true, but the Bible never really says this was the eighth day. It does imply it though. In the last subject, God rested from his work on the seventh day, then he formed man seemingly on the eighth day. It matters not whether God formed Adam as a separate race on the sixth day or the eighth day. The fact is Adam was formed as a separate race from the rest of mankind, either on the sixth or eighth day. Personally, I feel it was the sixth day.
Why didn't God just include Adam with the rest of mankind. Why does He give us the specific story of Adam, one man out of many? It is simple. God chose a specific race or people through which He would bring the Messiah. This race would become the Hebrews, then the Israelites. God is beginning the story of one family out of all the races of the earth. The entire Bible is about that one family through which the entire earth would be blessed. Adam and Eve (they are not named until after expulsion from Eden) were not the first two humans created and they were not necessarily the pair from which all the nations and races sprang. Neither were Noah and his family. They were simply the progenitors of the Israelites.
The fact that the Bible says that Eve was the mother of all living does not alter this last fact. The word Eve simply means life-giver. Figuratively, being the mother of the seed of Christ, she is the mother of all living, because those who do not have Christ, frankly are dead (this stretches it a bit, but I leave it here). But, since her name means life-giver, the term "mother of all living" may simply refer to that. She was the life giver who bore Adam's children. The word for living is chay meaning life or flesh. She may have been the mother of all of Adam's living progeny. So, the phrase is more readily translated "mother of all the flesh that should live after her," that is, her own offspring, and not all of mankind. Dr. E.W. Bullinger says that the word translated "all" is better rendered "all who should live after her," meaning her offspring. See The Companion Bible note on Genesis 3:20.
In summary, God created the heavens and earth. Stop. Sometime later He began the six days of creation, creating all as we see it now. He created the plants and animals, and all of mankind, including, I believe, all the races. Then God specifically directs us to the story of the family of Adam, through which would come Messiah. From this point forward, the Bible sticks to the family of Adam. There is one diversion, and that is to show the family of Cain, which is separate from the line of Adam. After that short diversion, we get back to the line of Adam. Why the diversion? Because of the Synagogue of Satan mentioned by Jesus in Revelation. More about that later. Next segment, Eden and beyond.
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