And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
21. And God created ] Observe the use of the word “create” (Heb. br). It signalizes a new departure of the Divine work, when the principle of animal life ( nephesh) is first communicated on earth, and living animals are formed: cf. note on Gen 1:1.
The writer does not directly speak of fish; but the water animals are described under two main classes, which would include all marine and fresh-water creatures.
the great sea-monsters ] Better, “the great monsters.” The word in the Hebrew is applied to monsters, or creatures of strange and monstrous size, such as occur in mythological and poetical pictures, e.g. the Dragon, Behemoth, and Leviathan; cf. Psa 74:13; Psa 148:7, Isaiah 27; Isa 51:9. It was also used of the crocodile (cf. Eze 29:3), and of snakes (Exo 7:9). The Hebrew did not know of the megatherium, ichthyosaurus, iguanodon, &c. But the expression here used is singularly appropriate to them.
The translation of the A.V., “great whales,” was based upon the versions LXX , Vulg. cete grandia; but the word is used of any animals of vast size. Moreover, there is no probability that the warm-blooded marine animal, which we call a “whale,” was known to the Israelites.
every living creature ] Literally, “and all the living soul that moveth with which the waters swarmed.” This is the second main class of water animals, viz. all the things in which is the principle of animal life, and with which the waters teem. They are further described by their motion, “that moveth.” The Hebrew word denotes the gliding, swift movement of the fish for which there is no adequate English equivalent.
The LXX, , gives too restricted a sense and suggests only lizards and reptiles: while the Vulg. omnem animam viventem atque motabilem, like the R.V., is too general.
which brought forth abundantly ] Better, “with which the waters teemed” or “swarmed.”
after their kinds ] Cf. Gen 1:11-12; the expression has reference to the great variety of species of water animals.
and every winged fowl ] or “and every winged flying thing”: LXX . The actual word “bird” is not used, doubtless intentionally, in order that the class may comprehend as many varieties as possible of winged creatures.
The assignment of the creation of birds and fishes to the second day after that of vegetation is probably due to the view that an ascending scale of vitality is represented by plants, heavenly bodies, fish, and birds. Clearly the Israelite drew a very sharp line of distinction between the vegetable and the animal world. Modern science has shewn how infinitely fine is this line; and geology has shewn that, in the earliest rock formations which contain fossils, it is difficult to decide whether vegetable or animal life recedes into the most distant antiquity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 21. And God created great whales] hattanninim haggedolim. Though this is generally understood by the different versions as signifying whales, yet the original must be understood rather as a general than a particular term, comprising all the great aquatic animals, such as the various species of whales, the porpoise, the dolphin, the monoceros or narwal, and the shark. God delights to show himself in little as well as in great things: hence he forms animals so minute that 30,000 can be contained in one drop of water; and others so great that they seem to require almost a whole sea to float in.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God created, i.e. produced out of most unfit matter, as if a man should out of a stone make bread, which requires as great a power as that which is properly called creation.
Great whales; those vast sea monsters known by that name, though elsewhere this word be applied to great dragons of the earth.
After his kind; in such manner as is declared in the first note upon Gen 1:20. See Poole on “Gen 1:20“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And God created great whales,…. Which the Targums of Jonathan and Jarchi interpret of the Leviathan and its mate, concerning which the Jews have many fabulous things: large fishes are undoubtedly meant, and the whale being of the largest sort, the word is so rendered. Aelianus, from various writers, relates many things of the extraordinary size of whales; of one in the Indian sea five times bigger than the largest elephant, one of its ribs being twenty cubits r; from Theocles, of one that was larger than a galley with three oars s; and from Onesicritus and Orthagoras, of one that was half a furlong in length t; and Pliny u speaks of one sort called the “balaena”, and of one of them in the Indian sea, that took up four aces of land, and so Solinus w; and from Juba, he relates there were whales that were six hundred feet in length, and three hundred sixty in breadth x but whales in common are but about fifty, seventy, eighty, or at most one hundred feet. Some interpret these of crocodiles, see Eze 29:3 some of which are twenty, some thirty, and some have been said to be an hundred feet long y The word is sometimes used of dragons, and, if it has this sense here, must be meant of dragons in the sea, or sea serpents, leviathan the piercing serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent, Isa 27:1 so the Jews z; and such as the bishop of Bergen a speaks of as in the northern seas of a hundred fathom long, or six hundred English feet; and who also gives an account of a sea monster of an enormous and incredible size, that sometimes appears like an island at a great distance, called “Kraken” b; now because creatures of such a prodigious size were formed out of the waters, which seemed so very unfit to produce them; therefore the same word is here made use of, as is in the creation of the heaven and the earth out of nothing, Ge 1:1 because this production, though not out of nothing, yet was an extraordinary instance of almighty power.
And every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind; that is, every living creature that swims in the waters of the great sea, or in rivers, whose kinds are many, and their numbers not to be reckoned;
[See comments on Ge 1:20]
and every winged fowl after his kind; every fowl, and the various sorts of them that fly in the air; these were all created by God, or produced out of the water and out of the earth by his wonderful power:
and God saw [that it was] good; or foresaw that those creatures he made in the waters and in the air would serve to display the glory of his perfections, and be very useful and beneficial to man, he designed to create.
(Some of the creatures described by the ancients must refer to animals that are now extinct. Some of these may have been very large dinasours. Ed.)
r Hist. Animal. l. 16. c. 12. s Ib. l. 17. c. 6. t Ibid. u Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 3. w Polyhistor. c. 65. x Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 32. c. 1. y See Thevenot’s Travels, par. 1. c. 72. p. 246. Harris’s Voyages, &c. vol. 1. p. 287, 485, 759. z T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 74. 2. a History of Norway, p. 199. b Ibid. p. 210, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21. And God created A question here arises out of the word created. For we have before contended, that because the world was created, it was made out of nothing; but now Moses says that things formed from other matter were created. They who truly and properly assert that the fishes were created because the waters were in no way sufficient or suitable for their production, only resort to a subterfuge: for, in the meantime, the fact would remain that the material of which they were made existed before; which, in strict propriety, the word created does not admit. I therefore do not restrict the creation here spoken of to the work of the fifth day, but rather suppose it to refer to that shapeless and confused mass, which was as the fountain of the whole world. (76) God then, it is said, created whales (balaenas) and other fishes, not that the beginning of their creation is to be reckoned from the moment in which they receive their form; but because they are comprehended in the universal matter which was made out of nothing. So that, with respect to species, form only was then added to them; but creation is nevertheless a term truly used respecting both the whole and the parts. The word commonly rendered whales ( cetos vel cete) might in my judgment be not improperly translated thynnus or tunny fish, as corresponding with the Hebrew word thaninim. (77)
When he says that “the waters brought forth,” (78) he proceeds to commend the efficacy of the word, which the waters hear so promptly, that, though lifeless in themselves, they suddenly teem with a living offspring, yet the language of Moses expresses more; namely, that fishes innumerable are daily produced from the waters, because that word of God, by which he once commanded it, is continually in force.
(76) “ Ego vero ad opus diei quinti non restringo creationem; sed potius ex illa infermi et confusa massa pendere dico, quae fuit veluti scaturigo totius mundi.” The passage seems to be obscure; and if the translation above given is correct, the Old English version by Tymme has not hit the true meaning. The French version is as follows: — “ Je ne restrain point la creation a l’ouvrage du cinquieme jour; plustost je di qu’elle depend de cette masse confuse qui a este comme la source de tout le monde.” — Ed.
(77) תנינם. “ Significat omnia ingentia animalia tam terrestria ut dracones, quam aquatica ut balaenas.” “It signifies all large animals, both terrestrial, as dragons, and aquatic, as whales.” — Poole’s Synopsis. Sometimes it refers to the crocodile, and seems obviously of kindred signfication with the word Leviathan. Schindler gives this meaning among others, — serpents, dragons, great fishes, whales, thinni. — See also Patrick’s Commentary, who takes it for the crocodile. — Ed
(78) “ Aquas fecisse reptare,” that “the waters caused to creep forth.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 1:26. Man] Heb. dhm (Adam). The reader of the Heb. can scarcely resist the impression that a close connection was meant to be seen between dhm man, and, adhmh earth, ground. Guided by this, and by 1Co. 15:47, we cannot doubt that earth-born (Kalisch) rather than red, ruddy (Ges. perh) gives the rad. conception of the word. Dominion] The orig., radhah, signifies to lay low, overthrow, tread down; hence subdue, rule.
Gen. 1:28. Replenish] Simply fill, therefore, supporting no inference that the earth had previously been filled, and was afterwards emptied, wh. may or may not have been the case.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 1:21-28
THE CREATION OF MAN
I. That the Creation of Man was preceded by a Divine consultation. And God said, Let us make man, &c.
1. This consultation was Divine. It was a consultation held by the three Persons of the ever Blessed Trinity, who were one in the creative work. We are not now listening to the voice of angels; they cannot create an atom, much less a man. They were themselves created. But now the Uncreated Ones are contemplating the existence of man, to give completion and meaning to their previous work. Man is the explanation of the universe.
2. This consultation was solemn. The light, the waters and dry land, the heavenly bodies, and the brute world, had all heard the voice of God, and obeyed it. But no consultation had been held prior to their entrance into the world. Why? because they were matter; dumb, and impotent. But now is to be created a Being endowed with mind and volition, capable even of rebellion against his Creator. There must be a pause before such a being is made. The project must be considered. The probable issue must be calculated. His relation to heaven and earth must be contemplated. It is a solemn event. The world is to have an intelligent occupant, the first of a race, endowed with superior power and influence over the future of humanity. In him terrestrial life will reach its perfection; in him Deity will find the child of its solicitude; in him the universe will centre its mystery. Truly this is the most solemn moment of time, the occasion is worthy the council chambers of eternity.
3. This consultation was happy. The Divine Being had not yet given out, in the creative work, the highest thought of His mind; He had not yet found outlet for the larger sympathies of His heart in the universe He had just made and welcomed into being. The light could not utter all His beneficence. The waters could not articulate all His power. The stars did but whisper His name But the being of man is vocal with God, as is no other created object. He is a revelation of his Maker in a very high degree. In him the Divine thought and sympathy found welcome outlet. The creation of man was also happy in its bearing toward the external universe. The world is finished. It is almost silent. There is only the voice of the animal creation to break its stillness. But man steps forth into the desolate home. He can sing a hymnhe can offer a prayerhe can commune with Godhe can occupy the tenantless house. Hence the council that contemplated his creation would be happy.
II. That man was created in the image of God. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Man was originally God-like, with certain limitations. In what respect was man created after the image of God?
1. In respect to his intelligence. God is the Supreme Mind. He is the Infinite Intelligence. Man is like Him in that he also is gifted with mind and intelligence; he is capable of thought. But the human intelligence, in comparison with the Divine, is but as a spark in comparison with the fontal source of light. The great Thinkers of the age are a proof of the glory of the human intellect.
2. In respect to his moral nature. Man is made after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness. He was made with a benevolent disposition, with happy and prayerful spirit, and with a longing desire to promote the general good of the universe; in these respects he was like God, who is infinitely pure, Divinely happy in His life, and in deep sympathy with all who are within the circle of His Being.
3. In respect to his dominion. God is the Supreme Ruler of all things in heaven and in earth. Both angels and men are His subjects. Material Nature is part of His realm, and is under His authority. In this respect, man is made in the image of God. He is the king of this world. The brute creation is subject to his sway. Material forces are largely under his command. Man is the deity of the inferior creation. He holds a sceptre that has been Divinely placed in his hand.
4. In respect to his immortality. God is eternal. He is immortal. Man partakes of the Divine immortality. Man, having commenced the race of being, will run toward a goal he can never reach. God, angels and men are the only immortalities of which we are cognizant. What an awful thing is life.
5. In respect to the power of creatorship. Man has, within certain limits, the power of creatorship. He can design new patterns of work. He can induce new combinations, and from them can evoke results hitherto unknown. By the good use of certain materials, he can make many wonderful and useful things calculated to enhance the welfare of mankind. Think of the inventive and productive genius of George Stevenson, and others who have enriched society by their scientific or mechanical labours. There is in all thisthough it falls far short of Creationa something that marks man as in the image of God.
III. That the creation of man in the Divine image is a fact well attested. So God created man in his own image (Gen. 1:27). This perfection of primeval manhood is not the fanciful creation of artistic geniusit is not the dream of poetic imaginationit is not the figment of a speculative philosophy; but it is the calm statement of Scripture.
1. It is attested by the intention and statement of the Creator. It was the intention of God to make man after His own image, and the workman generally follows out the motive with which he commences his toil. And we have the statement of Scripture that He did so in this instance. True, the image was soon marred and broken, which could not have been the case had it not previously existed. How glorious must man have been in his original condition.
2. It is attested by the very fall of man. How wonderful are the capabilities of even our fallen manhood. The splendid ruins are proof that once they were a magnificent edifice. What achievements are made by the intellect of manwhat loving sympathies are given out from his heartwhat prayers arise from his soulof what noble activities is he capable; these are tokens of fallen greatness, for the being of the most splendid manhood is but the rubbish of an Adam. Man must have been made in the image of God, or the grandeur of his moral ruin is inexplicable. Learn:
1. The dignity of mans nature.
2. The greatness of mans fall.
3. The glory of mans recovery by Christ.
WHAT IS THE IMAGE OF GOD IN WHICH MAN WAS CREATED?
I. Negatively. Let us see wherein the image of God in man does NOT consist. Some, for instance, the Socinians, maintain that it consists in that power and dominion that God gave Adam over the creatures. True, man was vouched Gods immediate deputy upon earth, the viceroy of the Creation. But that this power and dominion is not adequately and completely the image of God is clear from two considerations:
1. Then he that had most power and dominion would have most of Gods image, and consequently Nimrod had more of it than Noah, Saul than Samuel, Csar than Christwhich is a blasphemous paradox.
2. Self-denial and humility will make us unlike.
II. Positively. Let us see wherein the image of God in man DOES consist. It is that universal rectitude of all the faculties of the soulby which they stand, act, and dispose their respective offices and operations, which will be more fully set forth by taking a distinct survey of it in the several faculties belonging to the soul; in the understanding, in the will, in the passions or affections.
1. In the understanding. At its first creation it was sublime, clear, and inspiring. It was the leading faculty. There is as much difference between the clear representations of the understanding then, and the obscure discoveries that it makes now, as there is between the prospect of landscape from a casement, and from a keyhole. This image was apparent:(i.) In the understanding speculative. (ii.) In the practical understanding.
2. In the will. The will of man in the state of innocence had an entire freedom to accept or not the temptation. The will then was ductile and pliant to all the motions of right reason. It is in the nature of the will to follow a superior guideto be drawn by the intellect. But then it was subordinate, not enslaved; not as a servant to a master, but as a queen to her king, who both acknowledges her subjection and yet retains her majesty.
3. In the passion. Love. Now, this affection in the state of innocence, was happily pitched upon its right object; it flamad up in direct fervours of devotion to God, and in collateral emissions of charity to its neighbour. Hatred. It was then like aloes, bitter, but wholesome. Anger. Joy. Sorrow. Hope. Fear. The use of this pointthat man was created in the image of Godmight be various; but it shall be twofold:(i.) To remind us of the irreparable loss we have sustained by sin. (ii) To teach us the excellency of the Christian religion [Robert South, D.D.]
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 1:26. Man Gods last work:
1. Then man is Gods greatest care.
2. Then let man give him the best service.
God has provided all things needful for mans supply.
Works that are important ought to be undertaken with counsel:
1. We see not all things.
2. Others are willling to help us.
3. The welfare of others may be concerned in our actions.
Man hath no maker but God alone:
1. Then let us praise Him alone.
2. Let us serve Him entirely.
3. Let us seek to know Him fully.
Gods image in man is his greatest glory:
1. Not his ancestry.
2. Not his wealth.
3. Not his fame.
God hath advanced man to have dominion over all the works of His hands:
1. To enjoy the benefit of them.
2. To take care of them.
3. To make a good use of them.
4. To live superior to them.
Mans dominion is Gods free gift:
1. Therefore we are to recognise Gods authority in its use.
2. Remember that we are only stewards.
3. Be thankful for our kingship.
God hath made Himself known in trinity of relation, as well as unity of being from the beginning.
God the Father, Son, and Spirit, put forth wisdom, power, and goodness, eminently in making man.
Man in his first estate was a creature bearing the most exact image of Gods rectitude.
The image of God in man was made and created, not begotten, as in the Eternal Son.
Made, in this image, was the best of terrestial creatures, for whom all the rest were made.
The image of God resting upon man did fit him to rule over all the creatures subjected.
Gen. 1:27-28. Male and female are the ordination of God.
It is by Gods blessing that man must be sustained, as well as by His power that he was created.
God will have men to understand the blessings He gives them.
God can easily bring multitudes out of one.
All men and nations in the world are of one blood, and have one Father.
Man:
1. He has to replenish the earth.
2. To subdue it.
3. To rule it.
Those who have possessions in the earth must use and husband them, that they may be useful and fruitful.
All the creatures of the earth are the servants of man by the appointment of God.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(21) God created great whales.Whales, strictly speaking, are mammals, and belong to the creation of the sixth day. But tannin, the word used here, means any long creature, and is used of serpents in Exo. 7:9-10 (where, however, it may mean a crocodile), and in Deu. 32:33; of the crocodile in Psa. 74:13, Isa. 51:9, Eze. 29:3; and of sea monsters generally in Job. 7:12. It thus appropriately marks the great Saurian age. The use, too, of the verb br, he created, is no argument against its meaning to produce out of nothing, because it belongs not to these monsters, which may have been evolved, but to the whole verse, which describes the introduction of animal life; and this is one of the special creative acts which physical science acknowledges to be outside its domain.
After their kind.This suggests the belief that the various genera and species of birds, fishes, and insects were from the beginning distinct, and will continue so, even if there be some amount of free play in the improvement and development of existing species.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Great whales , dragons, sea-serpents, or some other of the great monsters of the deep . The Septuagint has ; the Revised Version, great sea monsters .
Gen 1:21. Created great whales The word hathaninim, which we render great whales, signifies “any kind of large aquatic or amphibious animals;” under which, whales, crocodiles, and the like, may properly be classed. The sacred writer intends only to inform us by that expression of the creation of that class of aquatic or amphibious creatures which are of the more enormous size.
REFLECTIONS.The greatest, as well as the least, owe to God their breath and being; and the whale, which unwieldly rolls along the ocean, costs him no more than the worm which twinkles in the drop before the microscope: each endued with powers so exactly suited to his state, and so exquisitely fashioned, that he who looks without wonder and adoration must be blind indeed.
Gen 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
Ver. 21. And God created great whales. ] In creating whereof, creavit Deus vastitates et stupores. For, as Pliny a writes of them, when they swim and show themselves above water, they seem to be so many islands, an nare insulas putes and have been so esteemed by seafaring men, to their great danger and disadvantage. Into the rivers of Arabia, saith Pliny, b there have come whales 600 feet long, and 360 feet broad. This is “that leviathan” that plays in the sea, besides other “creeping” or moving “things innumerable”. Psa 104:25 This one word of God’s mouth, Fiat , hath made such infinite numbers of fishes, that their names may fill a dictionary. Philosophers tell us that whatsoever creature is upon the earth, there is the like thereof in the sea, yea, many that are nowhere else to be found; but with this difference, that those things that on the earth are hurtful, the like thereunto in the waters are hurtless, as eels, those water snakes, are without poison, &c., yea, they are wholesome and delicious food. Piscis comes of paseo ; and in Hebrew the same word signifieth a pond or fishpool, and blessing. Many islands are maintained, and people fed by fish, besides the wealth of the sea. The ill-favoured oyster hath sometimes a bright pearl in it. In allusion whereunto “we have our treasure,” that pearl of price, the gospel, saith Paul, , “in oyster-shells”. 2Co 4:7 And albeit now “every creature of God is good,” and “to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe”; 1Ti 4:3-4 yet under the Law, those fish only were reputed clean that had fins and scales. Deu 14:9 So saith St. Bernard, c are those only clean in the sight of God, that have the scales of patience, and fins of cheerfulness. qui squamas et loricam habent patientiae, et pinnulas hilaritatis
And every winged fowl. a Pliny, l. ix. c. 3. – Ad quas nautae appellentes nonnunquam magnum incurrunt discrimen.
b Pliny, l. xxxii, c. 1. – Cur pisces vocat reptiles? Repere communiter dicuntur omnia , vel quae habent pedes breviores ut mures, &c.
c Bern., Serm. in Dei Sancti Andreae
d Epist. Enchirid
e Morneus, De Verit. Relig. c. 9.
whales = great sea-creatures.
creature = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. Compare Gen 1:20 and App-13.
every living creature
The second clause, “every living creature,” as distinguished from fishes merely, is taken up again in Gen 1:24, showing that in the second creative act all animal life is included.
great: Gen 6:20, Gen 7:14, Gen 8:19, Job 7:12, Job 26:5, Psa 104:24-26, Eze 32:2, Jon 1:17, Jon 2:10, Mat 12:40
brought: Gen 8:17, Gen 9:7, Exo 1:7, Exo 8:3
God saw: Gen 1:18, Gen 1:25, Gen 1:31
Reciprocal: Gen 48:16 – grow into Psa 148:7 – ye dragons
Gen 1:21. Great whales The Hebrew word here rendered whales is sometimes put to signify great dragons of the wilderness; (see Jer 9:11; Jer 14:6; Mal 1:3;) but it undoubtedly here means some very large inhabitants of the waters, and probably what we call whales, whose astonishing bulk and prodigious strength are amazing proofs of the power and glory of the Creator.
1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the {q} waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
(q) The fish and fowls had both one beginning, in which we see that nature gives place to God’s will, in that the one sort is made to fly about in the air, and the other to swim beneath in the water.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes