Before Ash Wednesday we had done the previous study in Genesis. That was about the ‘fifth day’ and we saw that on this ‘fifth day’ the world begins to abound with all sorts of life – plant life, of course, and animal life in the waters and in the air. Now we are ready to study the text concerning the ‘sixth day’.

Hebrew text:

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תּוֹצֵ֨א הָאָ֜רֶץ נֶ֤פֶשׁ חַיָּה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ בְּהֵמָ֥ה וָרֶ֛מֶשׂ וְחַֽיְתוֹ־אֶ֖רֶץ לְמִינָ֑הּ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃ 24

וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֩ אֶת־חַיַּ֨ת הָאָ֜רֶץ לְמִינָ֗הּ וְאֶת־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ וְאֵ֛ת כָּל־רֶ֥מֶשׂ הָֽאֲדָמָ֖ה לְמִינֵ֑הוּ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃ 25   

Transliteration:

24 way·yō·mer  ’ĕ·lō·hîm, tō·w·ṣê  hā·’ā·reṣ ne·p̄eš ḥay·yāh  lə·mî·nāh, bə·hê·māh wā·re·meś  wə·ḥay·ṯōw- ’e·reṣ lə·mî·nāh; way·hî-  ḵên.

25 way·ya·‘aś  ’ĕ·lō·hîm ’eṯ-  ḥay·yaṯ hā·’ā·reṣ  lə·mî·nāh, wə·’eṯ- hab·bə·hê·māh  lə·mî·nāh, wə·’êṯ kāl- re·meś hā·’ă·ḏā·māh  lə·mî·nê·hū; way·yar ’ĕ·lō·hîm kî- ṭō·wḇ.

NIV:

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.

25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Study:

Having filled the earth with vegetation on the ‘fourth day’ and having filled the seas and the skies with aquatic, marine and avian lifeforms, God now proceeds to populate the land with terrestrial animals. The text makes it clear that this includes wild animals and livestock as well as creatures that move along the ground.

Does this mean that creatures that move under the ground or those that live in the trees are excluded? A strict literal understanding of the text would require such a conclusion. However, we know that the text is not intending to make a list of every possible habitat for creatures. Rather, we have the three broad categories of wild animals, that is, animals that could be a threat to humans, livestock, that is, animals that are of use to humans and live under their protection, and creatures that move along the ground, that is, creatures that do not belong to the preceding two categories.

In v. 24 we read that God says, “Let the land produce…” Quantum physicist and Anglican priest, John Polkinghorne takes this to mean that God has endowed his creation “with the power of true becoming.”¹ Once again, I must insist that, while I would agree with evolution, I think that Polkinghorne is reading into the text. The whole of Genesis 1 is poetic and should be interpreted accordingly. To press a phrase too literally is to ruin the poetic nature of the text and to subvert its purpose.

I do think, however, that the text is connecting all the lifeforms to the earth. Both vegetative lifeforms from the ‘fourth day’ and animal lifeforms from the ‘fifth day’ and ‘sixth day’ arise from the land and are, therefore, intrinsically connected to it. This is an allusion to the ecological perspective of scripture. This creation, in all its varied forms, is God’s good creation. The living things on the earth are dependent on the earth and the earth dependent on them. To harm the living things is to harm the earth and to harm the earth is to harm the life on earth. This is, of course, being said in a poetic way and not in a descriptive manner.

This post is being published at midnight after Easter. Easter, of course, is not merely a promise of our resurrection. It is God’s commitment that he will renew and restore his good and beautiful creation that is now groaning under the effects of human sin and depravity. The first part of the ‘sixth day’ in Genesis 1 also reiterates God’s pleasure at his good and beautiful creation. He has made everything in his creation so interdependent that when one part suffers, everything suffers. This is precisely why creation is now subject to futility and is not as fruitful as God initially created it to be. But Easter is the promise that God will restore the fruitfulness of creation when he renews it. And so we can see that there is an unbroken thread through all of scripture that declared that God will never give up on what he has lovingly made.

Prayer:

Almighty Father, having just celebrated Easter, remind us that Easter is first and foremost your promise to remain committed to your good creation. Enable us to also imbibe that commitment. Let us never exploit creation to fulfill our greed. Let us always remember that we were created to care for creation. Let us always remember that we cannot separate any part of creation from the rest of it for you have made all things interdependent, just as you have made each of us dependent on you and on each other. We ask you for the grace to experience and implement this interdependence. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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^{1. Polkinghorne, John. The Faith of a Physicist. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994), p. 81.↩}