The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Genesis 1

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday about Genesis 1. There is a lot of parallelism among the verses, so when there is a lack of parallelism, it makes me wonder why. When God is making the living creatures, He specifically blesses the creatures of the sea and the birds (v22) and man (v28) and commands them to be fruitful and multiply. He does not do this for the creatures of the land (24-25). Is there any particular reason why he does not bless the creatures of the earth also, or is it just one of those things that is hard to attach any particular meaning too?

Thanks,
John

I've got no answer for you, but another observation. Did you notice that "God saw that it was good" every day, except for the second day?

I guess we'll all have to learn Hebrew now to try to figure it out. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So that's why Mondays are so hard! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/bingo.gif" alt="" />

To be honest, I had never noticed that before. It is an interesting point though.

John

In his commentary of Genesis, John Calvin just said this about the verses. "Why does not God here also add his benediction? I answer: What Moses previously expressed on a similar occasion is here also to be understood, althugh he does not repeat it word for word."

John,

I'm with Calvin on this one. If nothing else, if everything that God does is perfect, i.e., according to his wholly wise counsel, then how could anything He created at the beginning be anything but "very good"? <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

John,

Even though we don't read the statement that God blessed the livestock and beasts of the field we are able to see that they indeed do have the same blessing that God gave the fish, the birds, and to man. Namely the ability to procreate.

God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, (v. 22; v. 28) God will bless his own works, and not forsake them; and what he does shall be for a perpetuity. The power of God’s providence preserves all things, as at first his creating power produced them. Fruitfulness is the effect of God’s blessing and must be ascribed to it; the multiplying of the fish and fowl, from year to year, is still the fruit of this blessing. Well, let us give to God the glory of the continuance of these creatures to this day for the benefit of man.

Every object was in its right place, every vegetable process going on in season, every animal in its structure and instincts suited to its mode of life and its use in the economy of the world. He saw everything that He had made answering the plan which His eternal wisdom had conceived; and, "Behold it was very good"


Wes

John
The scriptures indicate that animals are living souls.

Genesis 1:30 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. [color:"FF0000"]life: Heb. a living soul [/color]
But their life is in their blood. Leviticus 17:11,14 Deuteronomy 12:23. Unlike man, who is a spiritual being and able to live in a personal communion with God.

So it seems to me that God includes all his created creatures and blesses them saying be fruitful and multiply.

[color:"0000FF"]20 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.

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.

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.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. [/color]

William <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/scratchchin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/my2cents.gif" alt="" />

Wes,

Those are some very good points. I too agree that everything God made was very good and received his blessings.

John