Basic HTML Version
146
d. The fourth day.
Sun, moon, and stars, were created as light-bearers, to serve a variety of
purposes: (1) to divide the day and the night; (2) to be for signs, that is, to indicate the cardinal
points, to presage changes of weather conditions, and to serve as signs of important future
events and coming judgments; (3) to be for seasons, and for days and years, that is, to serve the
purpose of effecting the change of seasons, the succession of years, and the regular recurrence
of special festive days; and (4) to serve as lights for the earth and thus to make the
development of organic life on earth possible.
e. The fifth day.
This day brings the creation of the birds and the fishes, the inhabitants of the
air and the waters. Birds and fishes belong together, because there is a great similarity in their
organic structure. Moreover, they are characterized by an instability and mobility which they
have in common with the element in which they move, in distinction from the solid ground.
They also agree in their method of procreation. Notice that they, too, were created after their
kind, that is, the species were created.
f. The sixth day.
This day brings the climax of the work of creation. In connection with the
creation of the animals the expression is once more used, “Let the earth bring forth,” and this
should again be interpreted as was indicated under (c). The animals did not naturally develop
out of the earth, but were brought forth by the creative fiat of God. We are told distinctly in the
25th verse that God made the beasts of the earth, the cattle and the creeping things of the
earth, after their kind. But even if the expression did refer to natural development, it would not
be in harmony with the doctrine of evolution, since that does not teach that the animals
developed directly out of the mineral world. The creation of man is distinguished by the solemn
counsel that precedes it: “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness”; and this is no
wonder, since all that preceded was but a preparation for the coming of man, the crowning
work of God, the king of creation; and because man was destined to be the image of God. The
words tselem and demuth do not denote exactly the same thing, but are nevertheless used
inter-changeably. When it is said that man is created in the image of God, this means that God
is the archetype of which man is is the ectype; and when it is added that he is created according
to the likeness of God, this merely adds the idea that the image is in every way like the original.
In his entire being man is the very image of God.
Before passing on to the seventh day it may be well to call attention to the remarkable parallel
between the work of the first, and that of the second three days of creation.
1. The creation of light. & 4. The creation of light-bearers.
2. Creation of expanse and separation of waters. & 5. Creation of fowls of the air and fishes of
the sea.