that moveth, with which the waters swarmed after their kind; and every winged fowl after its kind: and God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.

The earth being now supplied with the direct light and heat of the sun, is fitted to be the abode of animal life.1 Accordingly, at God's command, the waters now teem with aquatic animals, and the air is filled with the feathered tribes.

Let the waters swarm with creeping things (77 Dan 18787); more literally, "Let the waters creep with creeping things. , like, is to be taken collectively, and is the indirect This verb is always intransitive, and takes, like other verbs of abounding, the accusative of that with which anything abounds.2

. יִשְׁרְצוּ object of

It will be in place here to consider the different usages of the nouns 7 and, with their cognate verbs. According to Jarchi, "every living thing which is not high above

: ( כל דבר קי סליכו גבוה מן הקרן לרוי פרן) "שֶׁרֶץ the ground, is called

and he specifies flies, ants, beetles, worms; the weasel, mouse, snail, and other like creatures, and all fishes. This definition agrees with scriptural usage. The word includes the small land animals that move with a low creeping motion, such as weasels, chameleons, and lizards (Lev. 11: 29, 30); also "all flying creeping things" (b), as bats, grasshoppers, and the like (Lev. 11: 20-23); and finally, as in the present passage, all aquatic reptiles and fishes, at least the smaller fishes (Lev. 11: 9, 10), where the words, "of all that move in the waters," are, in the original, oren pay bag). 7 is used with 7, as its cognate verb, in the phrase: "The creeping thing that creepeth upon the ground" (

1 On this point see Prof. Dana's remarks in the Bib. Sacra for January of the present year, p. 118.

2 It might be taken as a cognate accusative, but the same construction is found with other nouns; as, "The river shall swarm with frogs," Ex. 7: 28 (English version, 8: 3). Compare for this use of the accusative such phrases as the following: "The mountains shall drop with sweet wine (), and the hills shall flow with milk ( b), and all the channels of Judah shall flow with water (3); Joel 4: 18 (English version, 3: 18): "And mine eye shall run down with tears" (2 7777?); Jer. 13: 17.

8 Commentary on Genesis in loco.

ras by pawn); then, as here, of abounding, like the reptile races. In this sense it is used absolutely of animals, Gen. S: 17, and of man, Gen. 9: 7.

According to Jarchi denotes low animals that seem as if they crawled, because their gait (b) is not noticed. The full Hebrew division of the irrational land animals is into wild beasts (), cattle (a), creeping things (177), and fowls (or); but frequently beasts and cattle are included in one term. When stands alone, it denotes moving things generally. 7, as already shown, is used of land reptiles, as well as of aquatic reptiles and fishes generally. But, as denoting a particular class of animals, is used only of those that move on the ground. See below.

has the same usage as its cognate , with which, as also with 77, it is frequently joined. It is used once of beasts of prey creeping forth at night from their lairs.*

Living souls (collectively), that is, living creatures. According to the accents, these words stand in apposition Some prefer to render creeping swarms of living

beings.

And let fowls fly (ii). This simple and literal rendering spares us the vain inquiry why the waters, and not the land, should have produced the fowls. According to ver. 22, the fowls "multiply in the earth;" and according to 2:19, they are formed "out of the ground." The proper signification of is fowl; yet from Lev. 11: 20-23, it appears, as Prof. Bush has remarked, that the words was applied by the Hebrews to all flying animals, as bats, grasshoppers, etc., and flying insects generally.

The great dragons. We render the Hebrew

dragons, in accordance with the usage of our translators elsewhere. It is sometimes used of serpents, Ex. 7: 9, 10, 12; at other

1 Gen. 1: 24 compared with v. 20. 7: 14, 23. Ps. 148: 10.

2 Gen. 6: 7, 20. 1 Kings 5: 13. Ezek. 38: 20.

3 Gen 9: 3; and so of all moving things in the water, "small and great animals." Ps. 104: 25. Hab. 1: 14. Compare also Ps. 69: 35 (English version, 69: 34): " The seas, and all that moves in them" (a vaiba?).

4 Ps. 104: 20.

times, of the crocodile, Ez. 29:3; but here it seems to denote large sea-monsters generally. The article points out the "great dragons" as well-known objects.

God blessed them, saying. rative, God's words are deeds.

Here, as throughout the nar

Geology shows that the work of the fifth day had two great subdivisions: the marine era, including molluscs, corals, and fishes; and the amphibian era, that of reptiles and birds.1 Nor is this in the least inconsistent with the Mosaic record, which gives us the whole of the Divine work on each successive day; but names its subdivisions in the case of only two days, the third and the sixth; where there was a special reason for so doing, growing out of the distinct nature of the operations recorded.

Vs. 24, 25. And God said: Let the earth bring forth living souls after their kind; cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and all the creeping things of the ground after their kind and God saw that it was good.

:

Let the earth bring forth. The earth is said to bring forth living souls, in the same sense in which we now say that it produces animals. They have their origin upon it, and are nourished from its products. It is not the particular mode in which the first animals were formed, which the inspired historian has in mind, but the great laws of animal production valid for all time. At the command of Jehovah, the earth then began to produce the land animals after their kind, and it has continued to produce them ever since. All speculation as to the manner in which God formed the first animals of each species, are extra-scriptural. We can affirm nothing concerning them, except that they came into being by an act ofGod's creative power. Prof. Lewis justly criticises Milton's image:

"Now half appeared

The tawny lion pawing to get free
His hinder parts."

1 See Bib. Sacra, as above, pp. 118, 119.

The same criticism lies against every attempt to give the how of their formation.

Living souls. In the original, living soul, the singular standing to represent the whole class. The same is true of the terms which follow. We may conveniently render them into the plural. includes the whole creation of the sixth day, man excepted. It is then distributed, after the Hebrew manner, into, cattle, that is, tame beasts;

, creeping things, that is, small land-animals that move with a low creeping motion (not 7, which is applied to the aquatic reptiles and fish of the fifth day); and 77, beasts of the earth, that is, wild beasts. For the form in, which stands instead of, and is repeatedly copied by later Hebrew writers, see Roediger's Heb. Gram. § 88. 3.

The sixth day introduced the era of mammals, the highest type of animal organization. Geology shows that the work of this day, also, before man's creation, had its subdivisions and progress towards the existing order of things; a fact which we have shown to be in entire harmony with the Mosaic record.1

Vs. 26-28. 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 heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the moving things that move upon the earth. And God created the man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over all the living creatures that move upon the earth.

Let us make man. The form of this narrative is, throughout, adapted to impress us with the idea of man's immeasurable dignity and elevation above the irrational animals. Hitherto God has simply said: "Let the waters swarm with creeping things;",, Let the earth bring forth living souls." Now he says: Let us make man. The words seem to imply mutual counsel, and their true interpretation has been a matter of much controversy.

1 See Bib. Sacra, as above, p. 126.

Some have explained the plural here as conformed to the usage of human dignitaries. But such a usage in Moses's day is altogether uncertain. Besides, it does not apply to the words: "Behold, the man is become as one of us," 3: 22. Though one should assume, as many do, that Moses has brought together, in the first three chapters of Genesis, two distinct documents, written by two distinct authors, still he could not reasonably suppose that the "us" of 3: 22, has for its foundation any other idea than the first person plural of the present passage.

Others suppose that God here addresses the angelic hosts who surround his throne; not that they can have any proper share in the work of creation, either as counsellors or as actors; but that thus Jehovah communicates to them his plan in regard to the creation of man, that it may receive the joyous approbation of their understanding and will. One might perhaps adduce, as parallel, the narrative 1 Kings 22:19-22. But that is wholly poetic, and besides, it relates to a work in which created beings could be employed.

More satisfactory is the opinion of Hengstenberg and others, that both the plural, and the plural forms here and elsewhere, indicate the fulness of God's powers, “the extent, riches, and glory of his nature." "The one God," he adds, "comprehends multiplicity in himself." 2 Yet this is a very inadequate explanation of the remarkable phrase , as one of us. Equally inadequate is Tuch's explanation, after Hitzig, that the plural here denotes reflection. and self-solicitation, as if God addressed himself. They, certainly, have the best of the argument who suppose that we have here an intimation of that great doctrine on which the whole plan of redemption hinges, the trinity of persons. in the Godhead. They who reject this doctrine will, of course, deny all reference to it in the present passage. But to those who receive it as the central truth of Christianity, it

1 See a review of the passages on which this opinion is based in Turner on Genesis, Note (9), pp. 140, 141.

2 Genuineness of the Pentateuch, Edinburgh translation, Vol. I. pp. 310, 311, 3 Uber die Genesis in loco.