The Strand Study Bible

GENESIS

50

GENESIS

but a cat remains a cat whether it is a household cat or a lion. 2. Life comes only from living ancestors (There is no exception to this law) 1:24c This is the first time “insects” ( creeping thing ) are mentioned in the Bible ( Job 4:19 ). Non-insect “creeping things” (such as, the weasel, the mouse, the ferret, the mole, and the lizard) are referred to in Leviticus 11:29-30. 1:26a As in creation, all three persons of the Triune Godhead ( us ) had a part in making man ( Gen 2:4b ). The plural word for God ( Elohim ) is here coupled with the singular word for make or create ( bara ). Thus, we have a strange suggestion of multiplicity of personality ( us, our ) that we refer to as the Trinity, with a singular act of creation. 1:26b Instead of speaking man into existence, as He had done with everything else, God demonstrated extra care by the way He used His own “hands” ( make ) to form man. Like a sculptor taking great pride in his work, God fashioned man with the most intricate details ( Psa 139: 13- 14 ). Both the man and the woman (Gen 2:21-22) were literally “sculptured.” 1:26c Adam is the first human ( man ) found in any history, monument or inscription; whose name, the time of his creation, and death, are matters of record, and from whom his descendants can be traced by name and age, in successive links for nearly 4000 years. 1:26d Although man was designed by God to be a three-part creation (body, soul, and spirit), only the soul and the spirit were made in the image and likeness of God. The body simply houses that image ( I Thes 5:23 ). 1:26e The fact that God did not give man dominion until He had woman standing beside him ( and let them have dominion ) is not only evidence of her exalted place in creation, but her need to feel appreciated before man ever goes out and conquers his dreams and desires in life. According to Ephesians 5:25,28,33, man is commanded to love the woman unconditionally. The woman, on the other hand, is only commanded to respond conditionally toward that man’s unconditional love (Titus 2:4). A man’s need to accomplish, therefore, should never come before a woman’s need to feel appreciated (Deut 24:5). I John 4:19 says: We ( the bride of CHRIST ) love him ( the BRIDEGROOM ), because he first loved us. Man was meant to appreciate a woman’s emotional needs before he was ever to go out and accomplish (conquer his world). 1:27a Note the phrase “ So God created man .” Lawrence O Richards in Bible Reader’s Companion notes: NOTE – In the game of chance, evolutionists are way ahead of themselves. For not only are the missing links still missing, but so are a thousand other steps that would require non-living matter to form into life. Life consists not just of matter (chemicals) but also of matter and information (DNA - Gen 1:11 ). Unassistedmatter never made a computer, nor did naturalistic evolution. Every honest seeking scientist should find himself forced to use the term “miracle” instead of “evolution” when assessing the odds of three billion amino acid molecules perfectly linking up to form the basic genetic code of life ( Jud 14:8 , Eccl 1:9 , Mt 12:12 , Gen 1:11,24 and Mk 5:25 ). 1:27b Man is a “shadowed reflection” ( image ) of his Maker. Like God, man has an immaterial nature, which is distinct from the body in which it dwells (Gen 2:7, Job 14:22 & 32:8, Zech 12:1, Mt 10:28, I Cor 2:11 & 6:20, I Thess 5:23 and Heb 4:12).. He was made with a soul (a mind to think, a heart to feel, and a will to make decisions) and a spirit. It is this immaterial nature (soul and spirit) that reflects the image of God. The body simply houses that image ( Gen 1:26d ). What separates man from animal is the spirit within man. Whereas every man has some consciousness of God (including skeptics and infidels –why else would they continue to fight the notion that there is no God?), no animal has a God-consciousness. In the spirit of man is the consciousness of God. 1:27c Adam and Eve ( them ) appear in many other books besides Genesis. They appear in the Quran, the Life of Adam and Eve, the Talmud, and the Gnostic texts. 1:28a How do we know that the term “ GOD ” here is referring to GOD THE FATHER and not GOD THE SON ? Hebrews 4:10 says: For HE ( CHRIST ) that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as GOD ( GOD THE FATHER – Gen 1:28 - 2:3) did from his. 1:28b The Great Designer designed His creation to multiply and fill the earth, not minimize its capability to reproduce. Thus God never intended His creation to stoop to the level of alternative lifestyles, which, without the aid of test-tube science, cannot procreate ( Rom 1:26,27,28 , I Cor 6:9b,c , Jude 7-8 and Gen 13:13 ). 1:28c Adam is told to replenish the earth. It is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 9:1. Just as Noah was told to “repopulate” a depopulated earth (due to the Flood), so Adam and Eve were told to “repopulate” a depopulated earth (due to Genesis 1:2). This, in turn, indicates that our earth was once populated before humans arrived. Thus there is a “gap” (an undetermined amount of time – Gen 1:2b ) between verses 1 and 2. According to Ezekiel 28:11-19, Lucifer and his angels were earth’s first inhabitants, until they rebelled. Satan’s government on the earth then became misrule, and, as a consequence, the earth was wrecked. It then had to be remade for it’s next inhabitants (human beings – Gen 2:17b , Ezk 28:12 , Rev 12:12 and Jere 9:2 ). 1:28d According to Strong’s Concordance , the Hebrew word for “ subdue” is kabash and means “ to tread down; hence to disregard; to conquer , subjugate , violate ; hence to bring into subjection .” 36 God gave man this ole earth and told him to subdue it, that is, to conquer it and, if necessary, to violate it in order to tap into its resources. Tree huggers and global warming proponents, who just happen to think that earth’s inhabitants ought to be a little more “genteel” with the planet, might want to reconsider what they believe in light of what God says ( Jud 21:25 and II Pet 3:7 ) Henry Jacobsen in The War We Can’t Lose notes: Only Genesis exalts God above His Creation. And only Genesis gives human beings a central place in Creation, as persons made in God’s image who are deeply loved by Him. Thus the biblical view of Creation has always been radical –and remains in direct conflict with the modern notion that everything is the product of chance evolution. 35

God, it happens, has a good deal to say about the future. He hasn’t given us all the details, but He has made it clear, in the Bible, that by His sovereign will He is bringing His (not’ man’s) purposes to pass. Men will neither usher in a